The Legendary Three
by Lady Kale
Summary: Naruto: Fuinjutsu Master, Sakura: Master Medic, Sasuke: Uchiha prodigy. What if team 7 rigged the Genin Exams so they could all be on the same team? What if Kakashi was in on the deal? Look out World, here come the New Sannin. Paring undecided AU My rules
1. Is that A Challange?

**A/N: SO... this is my first try at a Naruto fic... lets see how it goes.**

**Disclaimer- consider this story declaimed**

"Hey Oji-san! What're ya doing?" The Sandaime Hokage sighed at the sound of the young voice, though he did welcome an excuse to break from his tedious task of finalizing this year's genin teams.

He raised his calm grey eyes to the only person who could barge into his office and address him as such, his young ward Uzumaki Naruto. Well, he considered Naruto so much more than his young ward, but the council of Konohagakure no Sato had all but forbidden him from taking the boy under his wing. As it was, the only thing he could do for him was to secure a flat, in a not so nice part of town, mind, give him a generous allowance per month and, every now and again, show him a special favor.

Uzumaki Naruto was the secret son of the Sandaime's successor and predecessor, the Yondaime, who died battling the Kyuubi no Yoko. The irony is that Naruto was also the container of the Kyuubi, the Jinchuuriki if you wanted to be technical about it. But again, the boy had no idea.

Naruto was only six, and he was short for his age (Probably due to malnourishment). Like his father he had golden hair that spiked up in ever which direction with no rhyme or reason and eyes that were a uniquely piercing shade of blue. Yes, he was defiantly Namikaze Minato's son.

But you could see his mother,Uzumaki Kushina, in him too. For example, though his eyes remained blue, there would be a slight shift in color depending on his mood. But the most obvious thing was his overly hyper active attitude and his ability to deceive people.

They only thing that the child hadn't inherited from his parents were the six whisker-like scars that adorned his cheeks. The mark of the Kyuubi.

"Oji-san?" A small hand waved in front of the Hokage's face.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"You spaced out again." The small child pouted.

"Oh.. hehe. Sorry about that." The old man scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"You never answered my question." Naruto pointed out, hopping up on the desk.

"What question would that be, Naruto-kun?"

"What are you doing?" the boy spoke very slowly.

"Oh, sorting out this year's genin teams." The Hokage gestured to the piles of papers and the files that adorned the wooden desk in front of him.

"That doesn't sound so hard!" the boy picked up a few of the profiles and started to match them together.

"On the contrary, the teams must be as balanced as possible. Like this," The old man showed the boy the one team that he had already made. "It is customary for the rookie of the year to be pared with the one with the worst grades, the dope. And the last spot goes to the kunoichi in the middle, to balance it out."

"So the one with the worst grades gets stuck with the best and someone in the middle?" The boy ventured.

"Yes." The elderly Hokage didn't have time to elaborate as his secretary came into the office with a pile of books in hand.

"Hokage-sama, here are the books you wanted." Her voice was kind, but the Hokage didn't miss the death glare she at the boy.

Naruto pointedly chose to ignore it.

"What are those?" He asked cocking his head to the side.

"Books." The secretary snapped.

"Yea, I got that when you said 'these are the books you wanted.' But I was asking what they were about." The boy's voice was full of anger.

"Fuinjutsu," she sniffed.

"Fuinjutsu? What's that?" This time he turned and looked at his grandfather like figure.

"It's the sealing arts, Naruto-kun."

"And it's much too complicated for such a-" she stopped short of insulting the boy, catching the threat in the Hokage's eye. "F-for such a young boy. The Yondaime himself practically wrote the book on it."

"Wow! Really?" The boy perked up at the mention of his idol.

"Yes," the Hokage chuckled. "He was a Fuinjutsu Master, though I don't know if I'd go as far as to say that he wrote the book on it."

"So he was really good?" The little boy had a thoughtful look on his face.

"Uh… that's right." He gestured the secretary to put the books on a chair.

"Then I'll be better!" The boy suddenly declared, earning a snort from the secretary.

"You can't possibly even begin to understand such a complicated art."

"Hey, is that a challenge?" the young boy hopped off the desk and spun to face her.

All his life he had been told what he could and couldn't do, mostly it was the latter of the two. He was getting sick of it.

Everyone avoided his and looked at him with hate. Even his classmates avoided him!

That's why he had to get strong. He had to be the Hokage, and he wouldn't stop there. He would be the strongest Hokage that ever existed!

That way people would notice and look up to him. They would love him, include him.

This lady didn't know a thing! He would be Hokage. He would become the greatest Fuinjutsu Master that ever lived.

"I'll bet you that I can have all the basics down by the end of the month!" Naruto declared.

"You've got yourself a deal kid. You come back in a month's time and prove that you have mastered all the basics and I'll provide you with the books to get to the next step. Hell, if you can do that I'll buy you every book there is about Fuinjutsu! But if you can't do this, you must give up on your dream of becoming Hokage" the lady snapped. Everyone knew about the kids dream, he shouted about it nearly every day!

"Naruto-kun, think about this." The Hokage glared at his secretary. "Fuinjutsu is a complicated and-"

"No!" Naruto cut across him. "I will do it!" His young eyes blazed with determination. There was no stopping him now.

"Alright," The old man sighed. "Alright," he stood up and walked to one of the many bookshelves that lined the room and pulled down a thick leather bound volume of _Fuinjutsu: Beginner's Basics._

It had been Minato's copy. Hence, it had tiny scribbled notes all over it. Corrections and simpler explanations, along with a few imprecisions he had fixed.

It was all he could do.

"Here you go." He handed the boy the book.

"Thanks Oji-san!" The boy yelled over his shoulder as he ran out.

"You had better hope," Sandaime called to his secretary's back as she too left the room, "That the boy manages to master that book, or you will find yourself looking for a new job."

The door swung closed behind her with a loud _click._

Naruto yawned loudly, for the fourth time in an hour, earning many glares from his classmates.

Well, he couldn't help it. He had been up most of the night struggling through the giant book.

It was _hard. _And there were too many kanji and words that he didn't understand.

At this rate, he would lose all hope of ever becoming Hokage.

"Alright class," Iruka called. "It's time for lunch!"

The class broke into soft chatter as some of them filled outside and others stayed behind.

Naruto, who didn't have a lunch, pulled out his heavy book and started trying to muscle through it…. Again.

"Hurry up, Sasuke!" Kiba hollered at the Uchiha heir, who sat two rows in front of Naruto. (A.N. – yes, this is before the Uchiha massacre. So Sasuke isn't a total teme yet.)

"Go ahead! I'm trying to figure out how to apply this jutsu," Sasuke called after him.

"Okay, see you later!" Kiba walked out.

_Apply,_ that was one of the words in Naruto's book. (A.N.- he's six, people… I know I didn't know what apply was when I was six)

Naruto stood up and made his way toward Sasuke, all the while having an internal battle with himself. He had always done things on his own, but if he didn't ask for help… well, he didn't want to think about it. Maybe there was another way… maybe he could ask Iruka-sensei. No… that wouldn't work…Iruka would just try to talk him out of it, like all of the other adults.

"Uh… Can I help you?" Sasuke's voice cut through Naruto's thoughts.

Crap.

"I… I was just… just wondering if you…. Could help me with something?" Naruto muttered, rubbing the back of his head.

Sasuke just stared at him. Like all children, Sasuke had been warned to stay away from the whiskered boy. But Sasuke didn't find anything wrong with him.

Sure he was loud and dense sometimes, and really annoying. But he wasn't evil or anything.

Sasuke wasn't stupid, he could see that the boy had no friends, and was as prideful as a Uchiha. If he was asking for help, then it must be something big.

"You see…" Naruto continued, mistaking Sasuke's blank look as a one of defiance. "I… uh… I don't read so good." Naruto ducked his head, avoiding looking the other boy in the eyes. "And I have to master this book in a month! But I can't read some parts of it… and I was just thinking… you're smart… could you uh… help me?" He braced himself for the insult.

But it never came.

"Sure," Sasuke said. "What are you having problems with?"

Naruto looked up in surprise as Sasuke gestured for the giant book.

Giving one of his foxy grins, he handed the book over and sat next to the raven headed Uchiha.

()()()()()()

For the next week and a half the two boys would meet up before and after school, not to mention during lunch, to work through the thick volume of seals.

Not surprisingly, the two had quickly become good friends.

That's the thing about Naruto. If you give him the chance he can win anyone over.

Sasuke helped Naruto to the best of his ability, but there's only so much a six year old can do. Sure, the Yondaime's notes helped more than the boys could even say, but there was only so much they could do.

One day, Sasuke proposed that they ask someone for help. He knew Naruto wasn't comfortable around adults, so their sensei's were out of the question. And Naruto was also strangely hesitant to ask Iruka, or even have Sasuke ask Itachi.

So, Sasuke came up with a plan.

"Why her?" Naruto hissed in his ear one day at lunch. The two boys had forgone their normal spot on the academy roof to wander the yard.

"Because," Sasuke hoisted the book up higher in his arms. "She's the smartest girl in our class."

"Why not Shika?" The blond whined.

"I asked you about him a week ago! You said no…"

"But I changed my mind!"

"Too late for that. Now be quiet and let me do the talking, alright?" Sasuke had recently discovered that Naruto wasn't as annoying as he had first mistaken him to be. He was just socially awkward, really socially awkward. And that wasn't his fault. He had been on his own most of his life. What he learned, he learned by watching others.

Sasuke's solution? He would talk for the boy until he learned how to act in public.

Hey, it worked…..

"Sakura!" the raven called to the group of girls giggling together under the tree. "Can you give me and Ruto a hand with something?"

"Ke…."

"Shhhhh" He reprimanded the boy who stood behind him.

"Uh… Why me?" A pink haired girl asked from her place by the self proclaimed Queen of the class, Ino.

"Please Sakura? You're the only one we can ask." Sasuke smiled at her, causing all the girls to blush and titter.

"O-okay." Sakura stood up hesitantly.

"Great! Follow us! And bring your lunch… we'll be a while."

()()()()()()

On the roof top:

"So what do you need help with?" Sakura asked, eyeing the blond carefully. She too had been warned to stay away from the boy.

"Well, Ruto here," Sasuke jerked his thumb at his new best friend. "Needs to master this book by the end of the month, only he can't read very well. I've been trying to help him the best that I can but this stuff kinda goes over my head."

"What's the book about?"

"Seals," Naruto murmured quietly. "Ke helps me understand what they mean and I figure out how to apply it. There are notes all over the place in the book, and they help a lot, but…" He trailed off.

Sakura blinked, she had never heard the boy that soft spoken before. Though she had to admit, since he started hanging out with the Uchiha heir he had calmed down a lot.

"So, will you help us?" Sasuke asked her.

"On one condition," She replied slowly, thinking about it. "When we're done, you guys have to help me with my taijutsu, and get me books about medical jutsu from the library." Seeing their blank looks she went on, "I don't come from a ninja family, so I don't have access to the ninja library yet, and I'm not trained at home like you guys are…"

"Deal!" Naruto yelled, startling her.

He held out his hand, and after much thought, she took it. Excepting both the agreement and the friendship that inevitably followed.

()()()()()()

3 and a half weeks later:

"Alright gaki, show me what you got."

"Ok, here I go!" Naruto picked up the brush and carefully started the design that he practiced over and over.

It took him nearly ten minutes, but he successfully created a working storage seal.

The next one was a little bit harder. He combined the seals for storage and chakra flow. Carefully he added some buffers and directional seals on top of that to make a seal that would store and transfer chakra.

According to the book, one could produce an infinite number of seals and uses by combining the simple seals in the correct pattern. There were rules of course, about what could go where and in what order they had to be laid down or combined. And if you messed up it would most likely explode in our faces (he had created a few different types of bombs by adding timer seals and directional seals to a few of his failed seals).

All in all, it was one giant puzzle. He loved it.

To finish off his test, he produced some of his own creations to be scrutinized by the Hokage and his secretary.

"I… I can't believe it." The woman stuttered. "You actually did it!"

"Yosh!!!" the small blond jumped up in the air and started a jig. "I did it! I did it! Pay up, you old bat!"

()()()()()()()

"Ke! Ra! I did it!" Naruto ran into the yard of the academy, tackling his two newfound friends. "The old bat lost the bet! Now I get two books a week until I become a genin and then the money to pay for them myself until I have every book about Fuinjutsu in the world!"

"That's a lot of books, Ruto!" Sakura said, returning the boys hug. The three of them had become the best of friends while helping Naruto. Sakura had even taken the boy over to her house once! Lucky, it didn't take long for her parents to come to terms with the fact that he was just a boy and not the demon he contained. Though the children didn't know about that yet…

"Speaking of books!" Naruto produced a copy of _Medical Jutsu For Dummies_, and handed it to the now squealing girl.

"Not so fast Sakura!" Sasuke snatched the book away from the girl. "First we have to get yours and Ruto's taijutsu up to par."

"Sasuke!" his two friends yelled in unison.

Like the smart boy he is, Sasuke ran.

**Review please!!!!**


	2. How did we get here?

**A/N: -gasp- Wow... never expected this to be so popular... thanks guys!!!**

**Ok as you will find out... i have my awesome original moments.... and other times i combine some of the best things I have read into one awesome fic =D thats what I am trying to do here... so if I know the author I will give them full credit, if I don't I will mention that it's not mine... if you know who it is let me know so I can give them the credit**

**If you are like me and you don't pay any attention to these author notes.... oh well...**

**btw... i kinda need a beta... I've done my best but some things escape me... any volunteers?**

**declaimer: if I owned Naruto would i really spend my weekends sitting at a computer typing this? No... i think not**

"Naruto….. Naruto! ……NARUTO!!!!"

The aforementioned boy jerked awake, much to the amusement of the class.

Blond hair fell into weary cobalt eyes as he looked up to see who had woken him from his dream.

He was met with the emerald eyes and pink hair of none other than Sakura Haruno and her ever present rival, Ino, looming over him.

"What do you want?"

"You're in my seat." She snapped.

If Naruto looked closely, he could see the worry in her eyes.

Worry for him.

"No I'm not." He laid his head back down on the desk, thinking of the past and how much easier it was when they were younger and… well, stupider.

"Baka!" her fist connected with the side of his face and sent him toppling out of the seat.

"What the hell was that for?" he yelled at her.

"I told you, you were in my seat." She shot back, before following Ino onto the bench.

"Bitch," Naruto hissed, barely catching her flinch, as he walked to the back of the class and sat down by Shikamaru.

"What did you call me?" She whirled around, half standing up.

Naruto offered a small apologetic smile to his friend before saying, "Heads up Haruno, here comes a chance to lose you virginity… again."

She glared at him murderously, but thankfully was distracted by the person Naruto had pointed out.

"SASUKE-KUN!!!!!!" she launched herself at the raven. "I missed you so much, did you miss me? What shall we do after school today? Will you take me to some fancy restaurant?" She started to fawn all over the Uchiha.

"He's mine forehead girl, so back off!" Ino screeched in a very banshee-like fashion.

Soon every girl in the class began to fight over 'Sasuke-kun'.

Needless to say, chaos ensued.

If anyone was really paying attention, they would have noticed the blond haired trouble maker giving Sakura a hand up from where she had been tossed onto the floor.

"You went too far Ruto," she hissed into his ear.

"Sorry," the boy ducked his head. "But you know I had too. Besides, just one more day and we can drop these masks for good."

"Yea, I guess you're right otouto." She messed up the shorter boy's hair.

"Don't call me that!"

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say otouto. Well, that's my queue." She said as a one of the girls was thrown into the wall. "See ya at Kashi's tonight?"

She didn't wait for an answer. Instead, Sakura turned and launched herself back into the fray just as Iruka-sensei walked back into the room.

After much yelling and what Kiba dubbed as the Ōkina Atama no jutsu (Big Head Jutsu), he got the class to settle down and started teaching again.

Naruto just laid his head on the desk, and started to think about what had happened in the six years since he had fist picked up a book on Fuinjutsu….

He had amassed over half a thousand books on the subject and easily that much more on other various things.

All these he kept at Kakashi's house, along with most of his ninja stuff.

Sakura and Sasuke also kept their stuff at his house, in anticipation of when they moved in.

The friends had met Kakashi two years previously, shortly after the Uchiha massacre. He had been assigned to keep tabs on the three after the witnessed the horrible murders.

_F__urasshu Bakku (Flashback) __no jutsu:_

It had been Sakura's eighth birthday party.

Sasuke and Itachi had picked Naruto up at his dingy apartment two hours early and taken him shopping to find something appropriate to wear.

He ended up in grey camouflage cargo pants and a navy blue muscle shirt. Sasuke was in his typical black shirt and cargo pants.

Naruto had been so excited. That was the first birthday party that he'd ever been invited too. But he was also really nervous.

According to Sakura, her mother made her invite everyone from their class that year.

Naruto didn't do well with crowds of people, even after two years of being friends with Sasuke and Sakura.

"Don't worry Ruto." Sasuke said, messing up the shorter boy's hair. "You'll be fine. Besides, we're the only ones that are spending the night!" He gestured to the bags Itachi had swung over his shoulder.

When they entered the Haruno house around ten minutes later, Naruto wasn't any calmer.

The looks he was getting from some of the parents didn't help either.

"Ah, there you boys are." Haruno-sama had said as he took the bags from Itachi. "I was wondering when you were going to get here!" He had a bright smile on his face. "Hunny! The boys are here!" He called back into the house, ignoring the indignant stares from the other parents milling around in the front rooms.

"Finally! Come here you two and taste something for me!" Sakura's mother's voice drifted from the kitchen.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm and dragged him down the hall.

Most of the mothers were standing in the kitchen as the two boys entered. Suffice to say, it got really awkward really fast.

"There you are Sasuke! And who is that with you? That can't be Naruto!" The pink haired woman maneuvered around her friends and relatives to great the two boys.

"H-hia, Haruno-san" The blond muttered.

"Naruto," she had scolded him. "How many times to I have to tell you to call me ka-san?"

"At least once more Haruno-san," The boy said with a cheeky smile.

"Oh for heaven's sake!" She threw her hands in the air. "Come here and let me see your new outfit."

The boys had then spent the next ten minutes being fussed over by Mrs. Haruno and glared at by some of the other mothers. Though admittedly some of them started to cool off after seeing how shy and charming the whiskered boy could be.

"So boys," Mr. Haruno said walking into the kitchen. "What did you get my little girl?" He had plopped down on the stool beside the boys and grabbed a cookie off the tray.

"Those aren't for you." His wife slapped his hand away.

"Awww…. How come they get to have all the sweets?" He pouted.

When his wife turned her back on him, he made a grab for the cookie in Naruto's hand.

Naruto, who was use to the man's shenanigans spun around on the seat, letting the elder Haruno crash into Sasuke and send them both toppling onto the floor.

"What just happened?" His wife rounded on him.

"Eh… young Sasuke fell and I dove to protect him…?"

"Is that true Sasuke?"

"Say yes and I'll give you a cookie," the man whispered none too quietly.

"What cookie? You smashed the last one!" Sasuke pointed to the remnants of the treat smeared on the floor.

"Uhhh… here!" the man grabbed the cookie from Naruto's hand and gave it to the other boy.

Sasuke shrugged. "Fine by me," he ate the cookie.

"Hey! That's mine!"

"Correction," Sasuke dead panned. "That _was_ yours."

Mrs. Haruno glared at her husband. "Boys," she said tight lipped. "Why don't you go outside and find Sakura?"

The chibi kitsune and his raven haired friend got the hint, and like the smart boys they are, bolted out the screen door and into the back yard.

"Ruto! Ke!" (A/N the names 'Ke' and "Ra' I got from Wingwyrm's Team Tensai… you should read it)

A blur of pink knocked into the two boys.

"Ugh… hi Ra-chan" The smallest boy grunted.

"What took you guys so long?" Sakura pulled away from her two best friends and lead them over to the rest of the group.

"You parents," Sasuke answered for Naruto. "Hey guys!"

"Hey Sasuke, Naruto!" a slightly overweight boy greeted them.

"This is such a drag," A boy with pineapple shaped hair was lounging on the picnic table, looking at the sky.

Sasuke started walking toward the group of boys, trusting Naruto to follow him.

"So what are we going to play?" the blond haired banshee known as Ino asked.

She was standing with a group of girls, all who were starting to have a thing for Sasuke.

"Pass the rock?" Sakura named her favorite game (A/N I also got this from Wingwyrm's Team Tensai).

"What kind of stupid game is that?" A snobbish brown haired girl known as Akari spoke up.

"It's difficult to explain, just watch." Sakura walked over to the boys. "So which one of you has them?"

"Ruto does," Sasuke answered for the blond again. "He won the last game."

"He always wins," Sakura shook her head. "Were did we leave off?"

"Ano…. Ra-chan? Shouldn't we start at the beginning so the others can learn?" Naruto passed over a brown cloth bag.

His two friends nodded in agreement.

"So what is this game again?" the fat boy, Choji asked as the three friends sat down facing each other.

"Pass the rock. Here Sakura, you start." Sasuke handed the pink haired girl his rock.

"Alright, here I go."

She took the rock from Sasuke and put it in Naruto's left hand. The blond frowned before moving it to his right.

Sasuke took another rock from Sakura and tried to give it to the blond, who switched hands at the last minute, leaving Sasuke to dive for the pebble and throw it at Sakura.

Sakura caught it and switched it with another rock in the pile and passed it on.

The game went on in this fashion for about five minutes. The rocks changed hands with no rhyme or meaning.

"Yes!" Yelled the blond.

"Dang," Sasuke muttered.

"One, zip, zip. Next round?" Sakura tossed the rocks over to Naruto.

The Uchiha moaned."You shouldn't have done that…."

"What just happened?" Ino asked leaning over Sakura's shoulder.

"Well, basically everyone starts out with seven rocks and has to maintain seven throughout the game. You have to keep the rocks moving; each person must have at least one in play at all times but can have up to five out.

The point is to trade all of your rocks for someone else's without them noticing, or before someone gets your hand. If a rock touches the ground it's out and can no longer be used making that persons hand useless."

"How do you tell the rocks apart?" Kiba asked.

"Chakra," Naruto asked sorting out the rocks again. "Each person adds some chakra to their rock before passing it off at the start of the game. You can also use your chakra to mask others and throw off the balance, but if you're caught you forfeit. You also lose if someone catches you with more or less the seven.

Each round is faster than the last, and if you go to slow or too fast-"

"Let me guess," Shika cut across him. "You forfeit."

"Yup!" Sasuke answered. "Ok, my turn to start."

And the game started again.

"Can we just jump in?" Shikamaru, the pineapple boy, sat up. He had been intently watching the game and thought he got the basic strategy.

"Gah!" Naruto fumbled with the rock and just managed to get it to Sasuke.

"I'll take that as a yes," The boy slid in between Sakura and Naruto and was quickly handed six or seven rocks in quick succession. He calmly handed them back out, much to the amusement of Naruto, and the game went on.

"I'll bet you a bag of chips that Shikamaru wins." Choji said to Kiba.

"You're on!"

"Hey guys! It's time for cake!" Mrs. Haruno yelled from inside the house

The game was all but forgotten.

()()()()()()()

"Here, I made it myself." Naruto was the second to last to give Sakura her present.

He really hoped that she liked it. It's not like he had any experience with this kind of stuff before.

Sakura took the shiny metal disk from the boy's hand. It was about a foot in diameter and three inches thick.

"What is that suppose to be? A mirror?" Akari sneered. She had given Sakura a new makeup kit. Obviously hers was the best present.

"Think of a memory and touch the metal." The blond was good at ignoring stupid remarks from stupid people.

"Okay…?" Sakura did as she was told and though of the first time she had met her two best friends.

"_Sakura!" _the voice of a younger Sasuke echoed in her mind.

"_Can you give us a hand with something?"_

Wait. That was much too real. Much too close to be only a memory.

She opened her eyes and gasped.

On the metal disk in front of her, stood a four inch Sasuke looking exactly the same way as she remembered him looking on that day. Beside him stood an equally small Naruto.

She could also see herself and Ino and the rest of the girls they had been sitting with that day.

"_Uh… Why me?" _The memory version of herself asked.

Was that really what she sounded like?

"_Please Sakura? You're the only one we can ask." Sasuke smiled at her, causing all the girls to blush and titter._

"_O-okay." Sakura stood up hesitantly._

_  
"Great! Follow us! And bring your lunch… we'll be a while."_

The picture cut out as soon as she removed her hand from the disk.

"W… What was that?"

"A memory played back exactly as you remember it." Naruto smiled. "You gave me the idea actually. That day when you said you wish you could go back in time to see everything the way it was before you forget?

"Well that started me thinking…. What if we don't have to go back in time to see all of the things we want to remember again? What if we can just play it back… like movie.

"So I got the old man to help me and we made this." The boy gestured to the disk. "See this?" He flipped the contraction over and showed her the engraved seals on the bottom. "This bit right here," He traced a part of the complex design. "Is a memory seal. Once you play something once it will store it and all you have to do to play it back is touch the "re-do" seal on the top. Here" He pointed to a seal on the other side.

"This here," He showed her the three inch rim along the disk. "This is a safety seal. It's kinda like a blood seal but I modified it a little. Instead of only you being able to touch it, only you can move it. So no one can steal it.

Once you set it where you want it, wipe your blood along this bit here. And no one else but you can pick it up and move it."

"Naruto… this is amazing." Sakura hugged the boy.

I'm pretty sure you don't need me to tell you that the rest of the room was speechless. So much for the idiot demon boy right?

"Hey! I haven't given you my present yet!" He handed her a circle of jade on a silver chain. "I had Ruto graft some seals into this too."

"It's beautiful!" Their friend slipped the present over her head.

"It's to store chakra," Sasuke explained. "Every night before you go to bed you can siphon of the last of your reserves into the stone. But don't go overboard mind. After a year your reserves will double plus you will have all of the chakra stored away in the stone too.

To with draw the chakras just touch the stone and pull a bit out. It takes a lot of practice. Ruto and I have one too!"

The boys showed their friend their own stones: Sasuke's onyx and Naruto's sapphire.

_Furasshu Bakku no jutsu kai!_

Later that night, after everyone had left, the trio's world came crashing down.

They had been getting ready for bed around nine when the Hokage stopped by and asked to speak with the children.

He had sat them down saying that something terrible had happened.

He then told the children about the Uchiha clan's murder at the hands of Itachi.

Sasuke refused to believe it. He couldn't believe it.

The young boy ran out of the house, shouting at the old man, telling him he was a liar.

His friends followed him, all the way to the Uchiha estate. There, the two eight year olds and their seven year old companion saw death with their very own eyes.

The ANBU had yet to clear away all of the bodies. Some of them had yet to actually die….

The screams of the dying men and woman…..

The blank staring eyes of children their own age…..

It had all been too much.

Naruto shuddered at the memory and its consequences.

Like any seven year olds and people much older, it had scarred them for life. All of them had become selective mutes for the entire year following; only ever speaking with each other and, after a while, Kakashi too.

Thankfully, Sakura came out of it.

Sadly, it was too late. Her parents never got to hear her voice again.

Mr. Haruno had gotten on the wrong side of a man called Gato when he visited the country of Wave two years previous.

Gato had gotten his revenge.

As Sakura watched her parents die, she swore to herself that she would never allow herself to be so weak again.

The poor girl was haunted by the fact that if she had just known a little more medic jutsu, or if she had practiced a little harder, she could have saved them. Or at the very least kept them alive until the real medics arrived.

The death of the Harunos had affected the boys just as much.

They had been arguing on the other side of the village as their family was slaughtered.

Sasuke could never forgive himself. He believed that it was his fault. If he had only been there…..

The raven always looked back on that day with shame. That day he had tried to leave the village, had tried to find a man called Orochimaru, who promised to help him to become strong.

In six months the boy had become an avenger. He no longer cared about his friends or his studies or the promises that they made. All he wanted was to kill his brother.

And Sakura's parents had paid the price.

When they heard the news the two boys rushed back to their second home. Watched it burn to the ground while their self proclaimed sister cried over the bodies of her parents.

Sasuke marveled at how the girl had managed to kill one of the three men hired to assassinate the Harunos. He knew that he and Naruto might have been able to stop the other two, but he had been too consumed by his need for revenge.

He watched Naruto promise Sakura that as long as he lived he would never leave her side. He swore that he would become strong enough to protect the ones he loved and that he would never let this happen again.

"I swear, so help me Sakura," his voice had shook with emotion. "I swear that I will get revenge. I will kill Gato."

"No," Sakura had finally stopped crying. "I can't let you bear all that by yourself. You get strong and protect me and Sasuke, and I will become strong and protect you two in return. Then, one day, we will find Gato and we will kill him together."

"Together," The blond agreed. "And when we are done with him, we will go after Itachi." He looked in Sasuke's eyes.

"I know you want your revenge, but don't leave the village to do so. Don't go to some scum bag to get stronger. All power has a price, and I'm not willing to pay it. I will become strong my own way. I will never back down. I will never quite. And I will never go back on my word.

"You're my brother Sasuke, let me help you. Let us help you."

"First we protect each other, and then we kill Gato. After that we go after Itachi together. And when all is said and done you will become Hokage, Naruto. Sakura, you will become the head of the medics just like you always dreamed. And I will become the head of ANBU. That way we can make sure that nothing like this will ever happen again." Sasuke stuck out his fist to his friends, making his vow.

He swore he would never leave their side again and that he would never let anything happen to them. They had stacked their fists on his and returned the vow.

That was when Naruto had come up with an idea for them to be together.

They would do what no one else had ever done before.

They would rig the genin exams.

Naruto had come up with a theory six months later. The theory that since Kakashi was the only one in the village left with a Sharingan that he would be chosen to train Sasuke and whoever else ended up on his team.

The only problem was how where they suppose to get close to the guy?

Lady luck was on their side though, because six months later the elusive jounin had been assigned to watch the ninja in training. It didn't take long before they began to see him as their father figure.

What could they say? They where only kids and all they had was each other.

With the help of Kakashi, they created their alter egos:

Naruto had become reclusive and untrusting. He was no longer the happy go lucky idiot in orange that he use to be. Now he just acted like a total teme/drop out. There were moments, when he was alone with his friends or Kakashi that he would act like his normal self; not so much happy go lucky, and defiantly not an idiot… but more along the lines of a quirky mad genius type.

Sasuke just refused to speak to anyone who was not Sakura or Naruto. This included Kakashi, although he would speak in Kakashi's presence. Mostly he spoke in 'Un" and 'Hn' to those he wouldn't ever actually speak to.

The poor boy had taken to spending hours shut up in his house, learning to play music. He had even taught Naruto and Sakura how to play a few different instruments.

Kakashi said it was a good thing for them to practice. Being able to play music would help them cope later in life.

The jounin held to the belief that every ninja needed some type of artistic hobby, something where they created instead of destroyed. This would help to preserve the balance in their soul and help them to stay sane (A/N idea I got from ronin504's story Naruto: Sealed Fate).

He himself even indulged in the habit of playing the piano. Not only that, but he had taught Sakura to play as well.

Naruto learned the guitar from Sasuke, well a little of it. For the most part he just made it up as he went along.

The last Uchiha, on the other hand, now owned almost every instrument known to man. On top of that he could play most of them to boot.

Like all ninja of the leaf, the young trio had started to develop certain quirks. Some of them they learned from Kakashi, some came from other jounins but most of the time it was just what they came up with.

As said before, Sasuke had the random quirk of always playing an instrument. Most of the time he carried around a flute or a guitar kept in a sealing scroll.

Naruto, like Kakashi, was never without a book, scrolls and ink. When the boy was not reading, he was experimenting with a new idea for a seal, or trying to come up with a new theory involving ninjutsu.

The final member of their group normally was the look out. She would practice chakra exercises and healing jutsu to keep herself busy. Every now and again she would help her blond otouto with a new idea for a seal.

Though when in school she played the part of the weak love obsessed girl.

So in short, Naruto acted like a drop out who couldn't care less leaving him as this year's dope, Sakura acted like the obsessed fan girl putting her in the brainiest position and that left Sasuke with the snobbish rookie of the year title.

Tomorrow, the three friends would find out if any of it had been worth while....

No pressure, right?

**A/N thanks again guys!!! Please leave a review... even if it's just like 'you suck' or 'wow'... please?**


	3. Is that even possible?

**A/N: So, I've decided on the pairings... and ya'll aren't going to be happy... but I hope you don't stop reading for that cuz it isn't going to be major thing... there is a poll up on my profile for who Sakura is paired w/... no its not Sasuke nor Naruto... please vote!**

**This is kinda a boring chapter...but there are some witty (i hope) sections**

**If I said I owned Naruto, would any of you believe me? I hope not... cuz that's just sad.**

This was it.

This was the day of the genin exams.

This was the last day that the three friends had to act like they hated each other.

This was the day that all their planning boiled down to.

No pressure or anything…..

They had spent most of the night at Kashi's going over what they needed to do for the exams, what scores they had to make.

It was pretty complicated but they got it figured out.

Sakura was to score perfectly the written portion and pass at an average grade on all things physical.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had to ace everything.

And Naruto…. Well he had to just barely pass everything. With his almost failing grades he was pretty sure that he had the position of 'dope' this year.

The exams had taken most of the day and were insulting to the trio.

Was this really all it took to be a ninja?

All they had to do now was wait for the scores.

It was a nerve racking experience, just sitting there with the other students.

Every now and then, a teacher would come in and check on them. But for the most part, they were left to suffer.

Our favorite trio had all but given up on retaining their normal masks of boredom, hatred, fan-girlishness, and general lack of interest in each other. In fact, after a brief skirmish to keep up appearances, they were sitting beside each other in the very back row.

Naruto, leaning against the wall in the corner, had his nose in a book. This particular book was about the theory behind some of the hand signs used in jutsu.

Sasuke was to the right of Naruto, and looked to be asleep. But in actuality he was going over a piece of music in his head, trying to find the perfect harmony. Maybe he'd ask Naruto later.

Sakura was in the aisle seat, spinning a pencil around with her chakra. Aside from that, she was doing her normal job of being the lookout.

"Team Seven will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."

"YES!!!!!" All three members of the newly established team seven jumped to their feet.

"Finally!" murmured Sasuke, accepting a hug from Sakura.

"I tell ya what," Naruto said to his team mates. "The first thing I am going to do is to find a store and get new clothes, then I am going to burn this jump suit and send the ashes downstream where I will NEVER see them again."

"That's a little harsh, don't ya think?" Sakura asked. "After all, it's just a jump suit."

"Just a jump suit? Sakura, are you blind?!" Sasuke waved his hand in front of her face. "Wearing that thing is like walking around with a giant sign over your head proclaiming 'Here I am, come and kill me!'"

"That's it!" Naruto was jumping up and down again. "That's the name for this color! 'Kill-me-Orange!'"

About that time was when they noticed the odd looks they were getting.

"Uh…. Look over there! It's a monkey in a banana suit!" Naruto pointed toward the door.

Every head shot toward the door while Naruto made his escape.

Too bad for him that the window he attempted to dive out of was shut.

A resounding squeak filled the room and the newly dubbed 'kill-me-orange' clad boy slowly slid down the window pane. The last thing they saw of Naruto was a crumpled heap on the floor before….

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!!!!!" A green and grey blur broke through the window on one end of the room and barreled into Sakura and Sasuke.

Sadly, the newly made team 7 was use to this.

"Oh my God! Kakashi is on time?" Naruto unstuck himself from the floor and watched as his team mates and sensei struggled to their feet. "It's a sign of the apocalypse! Everybody run for your lives! Hot women and me first! AHHHH!!!!" Naruto once again jumped at the window. Yet again, he forgot it was closed, but this time he hit it hard enough that he broke the glass.

" …. He does know we're on the third floor right?" Sakura asked the silent room.

"Ma, ma… as long as he passes the MSR (1), then it's not my problem." Kakashi-sensei was a tall man with gravity defying silver hair. He wore a mask over the lower half of his face and his head band slanted so that it covered one of his eyes. Kashi was dressed in the standard jounin uniform: Black shinobi pants, blue sandals and a flak jacket over a long sleeved blue shirt. He also had fingerless gloves on his hands, and an orange book clasped in one of them. The title of this book read _Icha Icha Paradise_.

"What's the MSR?" Sakura was used to speaking for her new team mates.

"For me to know and you to find out." Was the elusive answer. "Alright team! Let's meet at the Lair, ASAP! Ja ne!" He disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Did we just get ditched?" Sasuke whispered.

"I think so… come on, let's go find otouto and start toward the Lair."

"If he's telling us to go there, does that mean the renovations are done?"

"They'd better be," Sakura lead the way out of the door.

The two members of team 7 didn't hear the whispers that were going around the room. They didn't see the death glares aimed at the back of their heads (Sakura's head) and didn't notice the other weird looks they got from the rest of the class.

()()()()()()()()()

The "Lair" as Naruto had dubbed it, used to be his father's house (he had overheard his 'godfather' and the old man a few years back). It was built at the base of the Hokage monument on a ledge just below the tree line that covered the mountain.

They figured that it used to be a family compound, based on the sheer size of the land, but most of it had been destroyed when the Kyuubi attacked. What was left was the frame of the main building, the outline of the wall, a few training grounds and a hell of a lot of tunnels that criss crossed every which way.

A year and a half later, the renovations were complete and team seven was moving in along with their sensei.

What? It's not like they had anywhere else to go. And who would trust three teenagers in a giant house all to themselves?

Fourteen feet of solid stone wall circled all four square miles of the compound, much of it just being forest. Each one of the stones Naruto engraved with a seal. Or rather he had his clones do it for him. Protection seals, area seals, trap seals, deception seals, barrier seals, you name it, he had used it. The front gates, set on the path that led to the monument stairs, were simple wrought-iron gates that gave a view of dirt path that lead into the woods.

The house itself was not moderate either. I mean… unless your definition of a quaint little home is a three story mansion complete with an underground offices, weapons vaults and hidden passage ways.

Though admittedly, the top two stories were taken up by the library and Sakura's/Naruto's private work areas and bedrooms. Well the main part of it was anyway. The two-story wings made up the sitting rooms, conference rooms, dining rooms, waiting rooms and just fancy rooms that were almost never used.

When (if) you walked in through the front gate, you would have to walk down that little dirt path for almost a mile. Then you would come to the main house.

The house had two wings, that looked like arms, perpendicular to the building itself. On top of that it was two wings coming off of the arms and running parallel to the house. In between these was another wrought iron gate that was also normally kept closed.

The wings themselves were two stories, open to the cobble stone court yard, the roof and second floor held aloft by stone pillars. Currently, the rooms were empty as they had no idea what to do with them.

There was a half built fountain in the middle of the court yard. It hadn't been finished because no one could agree on what it should be.

A flight of marble stairs lead to the house itself.

Once you entered the oak doors, you would find yourself in a corridor that also doubled as the foyer. Off to the sides where the dinning and sitting rooms, that the team never used. Up above them on the second floor were office spaces, that yet again, were never used.

Straight ahead were two curling staircases that lead to another set of oak doors. These lead to the two floor library of books amassed by the team.

Two doors lead off of the library, to Sakura's and Naruto's respective workrooms and bed rooms.

Back at the front door, you will more doors underneath the stairs.

This is the place that team 7 actually lives.

A kitchen with an island was off to the left. The platform with Sasuke's/Sakura's piano and other assorted instruments was to the right. Think carpet covered the entire area giving one a bouncy feeling as they walked.

The dining table was on the back wall to the left, right before the stairway that led to Naruto's room and the hall to Sasuke's. It stood before the giant windows that seemed to dominate the back of the house and looked out on a training ground, garden and pool. Beside the table was a ring of soft, black leather couches sunk into the ground so that the top of them was where one would normally walk.

This was Team seven's domain. Their Lair.

The newly made Genin didn't go in through the front gate. Instead, they took a small path that led around the wall to the back on the property. Here, the wall was covered in ivy, so that it was hard to see the small wooded door built into the wall.

They passed through with no more problem than the usual vines trying to strangle them.

"It took you long enough," Was the greeting of their friend, sensei, and soon to be guardian.

"We would have been faster, but you haven't gotten around to teaching us yet." Naruto retorted.

"Okay, now to test if you guys are good enough to be genin," Kakashi pulled out two bells. "You have until-"

"Oh not this again!" Sakura interrupted him. "We've done this like a million times."

"Yea, the goal is team work. And you already know we can work as a team." Naruto complained.

"Sorry guys, rules are rules."

With a sigh Naruto bit into his thumb and wiped the blood on the patio. His teacher tried to jerk back but was too late. A whooshing sound accompanied three chains as they bound the Jounin.

"What the!?!?"

"Sorry sensei, did this seal the other night as a last ditch safety. The seal fuses your chakra to the ground so you can't move before the chains get you." Naruto watched as Sasuke got the bells and gave them to Sakura.

"Is that even possible?" Sasuke muttered.

"So, are we meeting at the training ground by the old bridge? Around 9 right?" Sakura asked, walking toward the house.

"Where are you going? Come back and untie me!"

"Don't worry, it'll wear off in a few hours." Naruto called over his shoulder. "Man, what a day! I'm beat."

Sasuke smirked as he walked away with the rest of them.

"No! Wait! Goddamit untie me this instant! HHHEEEELLLPPPP!!!!"

()()()()()()()

Kakashi glared at his students as they met on the bridge the next morning.

"Hiya sensei! Have a good night?" Thankfully Kakashi had gotten his revenge after dinner the night before, so Naruto was safe…. For now

"Shut up," Kakashi growled at the blond. "You asked me to train you like my sensei trained me, right?"

"Uh… yes?" Sakura spoke for her team.

"Alright then! Be prepared to enter the ninth circle of hell!" Kakashi knelt and pulled out a storage scroll. "What is it that sets our village apart from all the others?"

"Teamwork, right?" Naruto asked, for once he had put his book down.

"Correct. Now, you guys have pretty good teamwork right?"

"Right." The two genin who would speak spoke in unison.

"WRONG!" Kakashi brought out three collars. "You've been acting for so long that you let some of the habits slip out every now and again. That can't happen. You guys are good for a genin team but not that good. Remember, there will always be someone better then you individually, but as a team it is possible to be the best. Now these, are wedlock collars, they will help you with your team work." He showed them how to snap (2). The collars were made of silver chain links, made to be worn like a choker or a dog collar.

"Good, now put these on too." Kakashi handed each of them a pair of identical black cargo pants. The pants had an inner lining that was made to cling to ones leg like Gai's spandex. Thankfully Kakashi cared to much about his own image to let his students run around in spandex, and the pants outer layer was designed to fall like a normal pair of pants.

A pair of black sandals, gloves and a skin tight turtle neck was added to the pile.

As the newly dubbed genin struggled into their new clothing, Kakashi explained himself… for once.

"This is an idea I got from my sensei, your dad, Naruto. He use to always tell us stories about how easy we had it and all the stuff that Jiraiya made him do." The silver haired Jounin smiled at the memory. "Each set is designed specifically with the wearer in mind. So Sakura, since you are already the strongest physically, we are going to capitalize on that and make you the team's heavy hitter."

"Wait… I'm a medic nin." Sakura stated. "How can I be a medic nin and a heavy hitter at the same time? Isn't that kind of counterproductive?"

"If you would let me finish explaining," Kakashi sniffed. "I was coming to that. You already know that you guys aren't going to be a normal tam."

Naruto snorted. "You can say that again."

"What is with you people and interrupting me? Like I was saying, Sakura will be the heavy hitter. Naruto, you are already the fastest on the team. That combined with the Kyuubi's influence and your fast healing ability, it makes you the perfect front runner."

"Wait, I thought Sakura-" Naruto started.

"No, baka." Sasuke told him. "Ra is going to be the strong one. What he means by you being the front runner is that you will always be the first one into the battle, I'll be second, then Ra will come out of nowhere and finish them off."

"Something like that," Kakashi agreed. "I haven't really got it all worked out yet. Anywho, Sasuke this leaves you with a combination of both strength and speed. With the sharingan you can't afford to capitalize one over the other.

Back to the training clothes. Each one has a combination of seals: Weight and gravity for strength, and resistance for speed. You know what? I just changed my mind."

"What?"

"I said I changed my mind."

"Yea, we got that." The blond genin snapped. "Are you going to elaborate at all?"

"Yes."

…..

"Well?" Sakura ran out of patients.

"Well what?" Her sensei focused on her.

"Are you going to tell us?"

"Tell you what?"

"What you changed your mind about." She prompted.

"I changed my mind?"

Naruto, sadly, was use to this sort of behavior by now. "Yes, Kashi, you did."

"I don't think so…." The man looked thoughtful. "I think I would remember if I changed my mind about something"

"Can I kill him?" Sasuke asked.

"Sasuke," Sakura sighed. "What have I told you about murdering people in cold blood?"

"It's illegal and rude."

"I don't know Ra-chan." The resident Jinchuuriki chimed in. "He is kinda asking for it."

Ok, I admit he is, but that doesn't make it any less wrong."

"But we're ninja," Her raven headed team mate pointed out.

"Thank you oh wise Captain of the obvious." The blond had a thing for sarcasm. "How would we ever survive without you and your awesome ability to point out everything that is apparent to a three year old. It's such a non-surprise when you tell us these things. In fact, I think I might have a heart attack and die of not surprise."

"You're very welcome," his friend sniffed. "So glad I could shed some light on your boring existence."

"Would you two cut it out?" Sometimes Sakura doubted the mental capacity of her friends.

Sakura gave her a weird look. "Cut what out?"

"Can't cut it out," The other chipped in. "It grows right back."

"What's it? Cause if it's the 'it' I'm thinking of it most defiantly won't grow back." Kakashi smiled as his two male students attempted to shield their family jewels. "So back to the topic at hand."

"Wait, there was a topic?" The blond began to panic.

"Oh haha, yes there was a topic. As I said, I changed my mind."

"HA! I was right!"

"Yes, Sakura, you were right, now can I say three sentences without you interrupting me? I had changed my mind but in the cores of the non-argumentative arguing, I changed my mind yet again. Sasuke, you will focus on kinjutsu. Yes, I know with the sharingan it makes more sense for you to learn ninjutsu but think of it this way. Naruto has a hell of a lot more chakra then you do, not to mention that he is becoming adept at making up jutsu's on the fly. Sakura is the medic and even with the necklaces you all carry, her reserves are still the smallest. And her control makes her perfect for genjutsu." Kakashi reasoned. "I am going to help all of you create a taijutsu style that fits with not only your personality but everything about you. Before you enter the chunin exam, you will have to master this style to a point where I can no longer help you with it."

His student gave him horrified looks.

"But that could take years!" Sakura once again spoke what they all were thinking.

"Yes I know. But it will be worth it in the end." He looked at them with his one good eye. "You will all be masters of taijutsu, but specialize in different fields. This will create a powerhouse team the likes of which this village has never seen before. You said you wanted to become the new Sannin. I will help you get there, but we are going to do it my way, one step at a time."

The three friends looked at each other.

"Look," Kakashi got down on their level. "I'm not one for motivating speeches, but I'll give it a go. You said that you want to be the Hokage, right Naruto?"

"It's my dream."

"And Sakura you want to be the head medic?"

"The best."

"Sasuke, you want to become the head of ANBU correct?"

The silent boy nodded.

"Do you realize how many others in this village have the same dream? Do you know how far you have to go to get there? You are talking about the best of the best. You are talking about the three most powerful positions in the entire village. If you get there, the safety of everyone who resides in these walls is your responsibility, every ninja, every civilian, every man, woman, or child who calls this place home. You have to protect them all. They will look to you in times of war and suffering. They will blame you if things go wrong. And you handle that?"

His genin looked like they were finally getting it. Finally understanding the enormity of what they wanted to do.

"And what about your vow to each other? The three of you will be prime targets for enemies. You have to be able to protect each other. What about your nindo? Will you be strong enough to keep it? There will always be people in this world that are stronger then you. You always have to keep getting stronger to protect the ones you love.

Now tell me, what are your nindo? What is your way of the Shinobi? Say it now. Swear that you will live by it until the day you die .Swear it to me. Swear it to each other. My sensei had us do this, and I have never forgotten."

Kakashi drew a kunai, and cut through the palm of his hand for the second time in his life. "I swear, I will never abandon my team. I will never leave them to die. Those who don't obey the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash. By my blood, and by the blood of those that I have lost, I swear I will never leave a man behind. I will give my life before I see you lose yours."

"I will never give up." Naruto took the kunai from his teacher. "And I will never go back on my word! I will always protect those that are close to me, even at the cost of my life. That is my nindo! My ninja way!" He cut his palm, and for once, the fox let it bleed.

"My turn," Sakura grabbed the weapon. "Even if I have to forfeit my life to do it, I will not see my brothers die. If I can save them, I will. If I can't, then I will die with them."

"I will never abandon my team." Sasuke swore. "I will be the first of us to die, no matter what. But I won't go until I avenge my clan."

_They all vowed to die protecting each other? Is there a down side to that? _Kakashi thought. _That could be a huge liability, but at the same time it could be the source of their greatest strength._

The three friends looked at each other, not noticing that their teacher was deep in thought. Then, Naruto used the bloodied kunai to carve these words on the center post in the clearing: Fortius quo fidelius.

"What does that mean?" Kakashi finally snapped out of his musings.

"Strength in loyalty." The three chimed together.

"Right… now that the sappy moment is over… back to training!"

Team 7 sweat dropped at their sensei's sudden change of mood. Wasn't it his idea in the first place?

"These seals are designed with the wearer in mind," He picked up where he had left off a while ago, trusting that his team would catch up. "Not only that, but it feeds off your own chakra to power them. Cool, right?"

Whatever reaction he was looking for, he didn't get it.

"I mean, come on!" He exclaimed. Why weren't they excited? "There is nothing like a leech to strengthen your chakra reserves!"

"Kashi, you are way too excited about this." Naruto decided to steal his brother's thunder and point out the obvious.

Kakashi countered with: "No, you're just not excited enough."

"What do you want me to do? Dress up in green spandex and run around screaming about the fire of youth?"

"You wouldn't dare…."

"Try me," Naruto stuck out his tongue.

"If it's always messing with our chakra, doesn't that mean that we will always have to keep up with chakra exercises?" Sasuke spoke to Sakura, though everyone knew the question was for Kakashi.

"Yep! That's the beauty of it! Good thing I already had you master water walking and tree climbing. Now follow me, my little minions! I shall take you on a trail around the village. I want you to run this path at least once a day from here on out you got me? Good! Now let's go!" The man started for the bridge that led to their training ground.

"Hold up! I'm going to set you up in what will become your basic formation, later as you become more of stamina freaks and get to know the path better, we will add more." Kakashi ignored the incredulous and slightly bemused looks he was getting. "Now Naruto, you are first. The reason should be obvious."

"Uh… freakish healing ability?"

"Bingo. You can survive more than your teammates can. So you will always be the first one in and the last one out. Sasuke, you will be last. Once you get used to it, those sharingan eyes of yours will make it nearly impossible for someone to sneak up on the team. That leaves Sakura, the medic, in the middle. Not only does this provide her protection but it gives her the perfect opportunity to cast an immobilizing genjutsu on an opponent while they are distracted with one of the boys. Get it? Got it? Good. Let's go."

Kakashi took off again at a steady, jog. It would take the kids a while to get use to the new weights so he didn't want to overdo it on the first day. Each of his genin was carrying at least 20 lb total, depending on how much their body could withstand and how much chakra there was to be spared.

The resistance seals acted like a giant parachute, slowing them down considerably and making it hard to get anywhere. If he had to guess, he'd say that each of them where fighting somewhere between two and four parachutes as they tried to keep up.

His goal, that he had yet to really explain to them, was to make them the best. But before he could even begin to teach them, he wanted them at least at a high chunin or a low jounin stamina and strength.

After they where there, he would work with them on a taijutsu style that was completely original. He was thinking something wild and unpredictable for Naruto, something that allowed him to use his imagination to the fullest. On the other hand, Sasuke needed a style that was calm and steady. A style that would allow him to adapt depending on the opponents. His female students style though…. That would be a problem. Maybe a waiting style? Something that made the opponent come to her?

As he mused over what the future held, he led his team out of the training ground and into the city proper. The Copy Cat jogged into High Street, one of the four main streets that cut through the village forming a giant X, and turned toward the Main Gate.

It took a good five minutes to reach the gates, and from there he led them up the wall by use of the tree climbing technique and around the entire village. After a half an hour, they had made it back to the Main Gate.

"How are you guys doing back there?" Kakashi turned his head slightly, but didn't stop running.

Team seven was dragging their feet, struggling to even maintain a slow jog. Sweat poured down their faces and their hair was plastered to their head.

"Come on, I thought you could do better than this, especially you Naruto. Aren't you some kind of stamina freak or something?" He chided them.

"Sh… shut up!" The boy gasped. "You… you run with… with a thousand pounds on … on your back."

"Oh I doubt that it's a thousand pounds." Kakashi was enjoying this too much.

"How would you know?" Sakura dodged a fruit stand, struggling to keep up.

"Come on guys! We just barely started! Tell you what, if any of you stop running, you will condemn yourselves to a week training with Gai."

_That_ got them running again.

Back up High Street and into Main they went, calling encouragement to each other. At the end of Main, they took a left and headed into the woods by the Hokage monument.

Here, Kakashi lead them over a river he remembered cleaning as a genin, and ran along that for a while. When I say he ran along it, we all know I mean he ran on it. From the stream they ran to the stairs that lead up the side of the monument, across the giant heads, and back down the other side.

By now, even Kakashi was feeling the strain of running and it was all his team could do to keep up.

"Nearly… there," He said between gasps for air. Somewhere around three hours had passed since they began. The only thing that kept them going was the threat of a week's worst of "youthfulness."

Back up Main they went then veered toward the Banking District, cutting down an ally.

At last, Kakashi lead them trough the training grounds. Starting at one and working up until they came to their own.

As you can guess, they collapsed on the ground.

"You're a sadist, Kashi." Were the last words out of Naruto's mouth, before he followed his team mates in to the cool embrace of unconsciousness.

"Heh," Kashi scratched the back of his head. "Maybe I over did it. Oh well... revenge is sweet indeed!"

1. Got this idea from Sarah1281

2. Got this idea from EroSlackerMicha

**A/N please forgive me... I know that was kinda boring but I plan on making it funnier and better later. Yes you heard me right, they wont be entering the exams right away. They are going to train and become strong then blow every ones socks off when they get there...**

**Special thanks to my beta- 'Tenraku-Ichi'**

**and my best friend- Ferrous Corvus**

**Please review!!!  
Please Vote!!!!**


	4. Isn’t that an oxymoron?

**A/N: wow... you guys are totally awesome!!! I love reading email now... haha**

**So the whole 'teams w different porpouses' thing I got from _An Alternative Path _by Zessei. If your looking for a good read, I highly recommend it.**

**As far as I know thats all i copied from this chapter... if you see anything let me kno and I'll fix it straight away!**

**Disclaimer: Do I really need one of these? Seriously... I own nothing... If you dont believe me ask Ferrous Corvus**

Konoha teams are designed with a specific purposes in mind.

Take the Sannin for example; a classic application of a Heavy Combat Team. Though, admittedly, it is rare for a team to grow so old and even rarer for one to gain such fame.

Then you have the famed Ino-Shika-Cho trio. A perfect Investigations/Interrogations team.

Each generation of shinobi is raised to surpass and replace a team in the ranks. Some even go as far as to time the birth of their children so that they can be on the same team.

Kakashi knew this from the beginning. What is more, he knew his team was to be the next Heavy Combat Team. Now that could end two ways: 1) they become as famous and powerful as the Sannin and 2) they die a horrific early death like Kakashi's own team.

Neither was exactly an option he wanted for his students. Of course he knew they wanted to be the new Sannin but the chances of that happening were too slim for him to even consider. They are his children we're talking about, people.

So, as you can guess, Kakashi had a dilemma. Aka: how to help them fulfill their dreams of becoming the most powerful team and not die or get marked for death in the process.

Thankfully, his little stunt in the training ground over three months ago had given him an idea.

This idea was why he was currently standing in front of the Hokage's desk waiting for his leader to finish signing whatever it is he was signing.

"So… Kakashi-kun, what can I help you with?" the elderly man put down his pen.

"I wish to request permission to change the…. I mean I wanted to ask you if it was possible… I mean…"

"Just spit it out boy."

"I want to change my team from a Heavy Combat to…. Well… something else." Kakashi finished lamely.

"Something else…?"

"Yes, sir."

"And do you have any idea what this… something could be?"

"Uh… I do sir." Kakashi scratched the back of his head.

"But?"

"But… well do you mind if I sit, sir? This could take a while."

"Then by all means," The Hokage gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk. "Now, what is this idea of yours?"

"Well, on the first day of training I had them swear their nindo's to each other." The Jounin smiled as his leader chuckled. "I noticed something a little odd about them though."

"Oh?"

"Yes, Sir. Each of them was along the lines or protecting people or protecting each other. Not only that… but they took my words to heart and seem to be living by them now."

"And what word would that be Kashi-kun?"

"Those who do not follow the rules are trash. Bit those who abandon their friends are worse than trash. They even carved their team motto into a tree sir!"

"….Motto?"

"Yes sir. Fortius quo fidelius, it means-"

"Strength through loyalty."

"Uh… yes, sir, it does."

"Kakashi," The old man sighed.

"Yes, sir?"

"I know who I am. You don't need to keep stating it by calling me 'sir.'"

"Yes Si…. I mean… Yes, of course."

"Better. Now, please continue."

"Right… well. Like I said, they seem to put a great deal of stock in human life. And I was thinking… well… we lose shinobi every year just because we do not have enough man power to always send back up when it's needed. And even more because we cannot risk sending a team to look for another."

"What are you suggesting?"

"That we make team seven a new type of team. A team that specializes in finding and rescuing other teams."

"And what of their dreams to become the next Sannin?"

"You know about that?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun has told me."

"Well…. Uh… I was kinda thinking they could become… something like the..er… the face of the village?"

"The face of the village?"

"Yes." Kakashi almost said 'yes sir' but was stopped by the hard look his leader gave him.

"So you mean… 'don't mess with us or this is who you'll have to deal with?'"

"Well….I hadn't thought of that."

"Do you realize what kind of pressure this puts on them?" the Hokage sat back in his chair. "I know you're afraid to make them a Heavy Combat Team, but this has the potential to be even worse! If they are the face of the village then they will be the main targets!"

"Yes I know… but you see… Everything they do… Every time they train it's with one thought in mind. Their always thinking 'I have to get stronger so I can protect them.' Every move they make is all about protecting themselves and others." Kakashi tried to reason. "Why not let them do that? Why not let them protect our people? Other nations will think twice about messing with our shinobi if they think that they will have to deal with a Sannin-like team coming after them."

"So you'll take them out of the frying pan and throw them into the fire?"

"They can do this, sir." Kakashi stood. "I know they can. Give me… just give me time to prove it. I can make them this team."

The Hokage sighed. He was getting far too old for this.

"The next chunin exam will be held in Konoha in three months. After that it will be two years before it is our turn to host the exam again. You have until then."

"But sir!"

"No but's, Kakashi. You have two years to make team seven the first ever… whatever team they will be called. If you do not prove to me that they are capable of doing this, then they will go back to being a Heavy Combat Squad."

"Alright… but can I ask one more thing?"

"Depending on what it is and how much it is going to cost me." The old man smiled ruefully.

"I request that team seven be given specialist sensei's."

"…what your saying is that you don't have the ability to make them… whatever… in two years and you need help."

"Uh… I wouldn't go that far.."

"Of course you wouldn't. Request approved. Now who do you want?"

"I.. well… really? Well… Hayate Gekkō, Anko Mitarashi, Hana Inuzuka…." Kakashi trailed off.

"You do realize that you asked for two of my examiners right?"

"Well I was kinda hoping…"

"Hoping that they could shadow them during the exam? You do know how much paper work you're making me do?"

"It's for a good cause?" Kakashi tried.

"I suppose….." The Hokage mussed. "What about Gai Maito? He's the best there is when it comes to taijutsu."

"Do I have too?"

"Do you want your team to be a Heavy Combat Team?"

"But he could corrupt my students!"

"More then you already have? I find that highly unlikely."

"But… but.. He already has a team!" Dear Kami, anyone but Gai. Please. "I was going to try to keep this a secret."

"He can work with your team on Wednesdays while his team does missions. And give them scrolls to study for the rest of the time."

"I… I don't have a choice do I?" Kakashi gave up. "But I swear if he even tried to get my students in that horrible spandex of his I'll… I'll do something drastic!"

"Like..?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought that far yet."

"I see."

"Really?"

"Uh… no. Not Really. Now go tell your team about their new sensei's"

* * *

"Left, Left, Left, Right, Left." A Kakashi clone sang as he watched 'his' students run methodically.

Not that it did any good anymore. Team 7 had long since gotten use to the training regime they were expected to maintain. They even enjoyed what had been coined "The Marathon of Death" now a days.

Kakashi had taught them a few basic battle formations and kata somewhere in between all the running, calisthenics, and regular work outs. He would often appear during their run and order them to switch formation or break formation, as the case maybe. He had even gone as far as to have them mock duel each, which Sasuke insisted was redundant and there for a pointless waste of words and time in saying said words.

"Would you shut up? We know how to run thank you very much!" Naruto snapped at the clone.

"Now, now Naru-chan." The clone chided. "Is that anyway to talk to your sensei?"

"You're a clone." Sasuke still looked at his team mates when he spoke to Kakashi. "And there for you are not really our sensei. Merely a minion sent here to do his evil deeds while he stays at home reading porn."

"I fear you underestimate the value of porn, young one." Got to love how the clone wasn't even fazed by being called a minion. "And I'm not a minion! Clones are people too!" Ok… so maybe I spoke too soon.

"Uh… I'm pretty sure being a clone of a person does not qualify you as a real person. You're kinda expendable." Sakura ran up a tree and back flipped over said clones head.

"No I'm not!" The clone stomped its foot like a small child.

"Yes, you are." Trust Naruto to jump in the middle of everything.

"No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"Face it clone-e. You are a clone. Clone equals not real, and therefore expendable." How one could argue with a clone while doing leg lifts is beyond me. But hey, it's Naruto we're talking about.

"I'm telling daddy!" The clone ran off to find Kakashi.

"Daddy?" Sasuke asked.

"Naruto."

"Yes, Sakura-chan?"

"What have I told you about making others feel inferior?"

"I have no idea." This earned him a fist to the head as his "sister" ran past him.

"Okay," the Kakashi clone appeared in the middle of their training field. "What did you guys do to my clone?"

"Nice try Clone-e," Naruto went from leg lifts to pushups. "We all know that you couldn't possibly gotten to the Lair and come back."

"Oh really?" The Kakashi clone asked. "And what if I wasn't at the Lair?"

"Where else would he be?" Sakura jumped into the tree's and began to do pull ups.

"Here?"

"Like he ever gets up before noon," The raven-haired boy scoffed.

"How about we make a bet then?"

"What kind of bet?" The team stopped what they were doing and watched their teacher's clone.

"If I am a clone, then dispel me. If you do I will give you the rest of the week off. If you can't, then your workout will double _and_ you have to go to the gathering tonight."

"What gathering?" Sakura asked, jumping down.

"Oh… right, I haven't told you guys yet." Kashi-sensei scratched the back of his head in a very Naruto-like fashion. "You see, the Hyuga Clan are hosting some friends from Kumogakure."

"Friends from Kumo?" Sasuke asked. "Isn't that an oxymoron?"

"Na, I heard the whole thing was a big misunderstanding." Naruto chimed in. "The nin that tried to capture Hinata wasn't working for the Riakage."

"Then how do you explain Neji and his 'fate' fetish?" Sakura asked. The team had met Team Gai a month ago on one of their runs. Let's just say it was very…. Educational.

"The letter demanding The Hyuga Clan's Head's head was a fake." Naruto explained. "Though how you don't discover a fake letter in a Ninja Village is beyond me. Must be Danzo…" Needless to say, the blond did not like the old War Hawk one bit.

"So Neji's dad died for nothing?" This was news to Sasuke.

"Yea… pretty much."

"Well, that explains a lot." The lone female mused.

"Back to the bet!" Kakashi reminded them. "You can only use taijutsu and if you lose-"

"Wait!" Sakura interrupted. "You never finished explaining about the Gathering thing."

"I didn't?"

"No"

"I'm pretty sure I did…"

"Not this again!" Naruto was always one for the dramatics.

"Just recap Kashi," Sasuke said.

"Ok… Hyuga."

"Got that."

"Friend of Hyuga from Kumo come to visit."

"Got that." Why did Sasuke feel like this was one giant check list?

"She was training with team 8." Kashi continued.

"Who was training with team eight?"

"The friend." Naruto answered his "sister."

"The friend from Kumo?" Sasuke tried.

"Yes! Keep up will you?"

"Sorry if our brains are normal." The raven muttered under his breath.

"Anyway, Kurenai, Team 8's sensei, decided it would be good for the girl to meet the other teams. Not only that, but she wanted to teams to reconnect seeing as how you guys have fallen off the face of the earth as of late." Kashi finished.

"Really? Wow! I wonder why that would be…" Did I mention Naruto was very fluent in the language of sarcasm? "It's not like we have a sadistic sensei who enjoys running us into the ground or anything."

"Yea," Kakashi agreed. "Could you imagine that?"

This earned him glares from his team.

"Anyway," He said, slightly unnerved. "You win you're off the hook. You lose, training doubles and you have to go to this gathering thing. Got it?"

"Let's go!" Sasuke said.

Team Seven attacked.

Their first move was one of the basic formations that they had been taught. I believe Naruto called it something like "Arraign."

Speaking of our blond friend, he was the first into the 'battle' charging head first and thinking later. His job was to drive Kakashi back under and onslaught of blows designed to make his teacher focus solely on him for the time being. Sadly, Kakashi had yet to teach him anything beyond a basic kata for his style. So, he just went with the moves of the fight.

He ducked, weaved and dodged, never staying in one place for more than a second. He aimed his blows low, something we might call a 'cheap shot', to make his teacher jump back.

As soon as Kakashi's feet hit the ground, Sasuke aimed a high kick from behind.

Now, Kakashi is a jounin, so this didn't catch him by surprise. Actually, he could more than handle the two genin dancing around him in close to perfect form.

It was then that he noticed that they really were dancing. Not the dancing you're thinking of, but a foreign, wild, tribal kind of dance. They moved together in perfect harmony, covering each other's weak spots and exploiting each other's strength to the fullest.

Naruto ducked back from Kakashi's punch, bending all the way to the ground in an awkward back bend, before snapping his feet up in hopes of catching his teacher in the chin.

As Kakashi reeled back from the unexpected move, he had to jump over Sasuke's attempt to swipe his feet out from under him.

"Not bad," He commented.

The boy's just grinned before attacking again.

This time, Sasuke charged first with Naruto right behind.

Kakashi was expecting some team attack. What he wasn't expecting was for Naruto to use Sasuke's shoulders as a spring board and launch himself at Kashi's head.

It was then that he felt the chakra enhanced punch to his kidney.

He had forgotten about his other student.

Too late, he remembered, and found himself flying to meet Naruto's fist.

Again, he's a jounin, so he could easily doge both attacks and land on his feet some good distance away from the trio.

"You all… fail." He told his team, wincing slightly.

"What!" It was funny to see them yell in unison.

"But we got you!" Naruto complained.

"But that wasn't the bet. The Bet was to dispel me. And you would have if I was a clone. But I'm not so you lose."

"That's not fair!" Sakura wailed. "You knew this was going to happen all along!"

"Yep! Got a problem with that?" He got grumbles and curses hissed under breath as his response. "Didn't think so. Now start running my little kiddies, play time is over and your doom is just beginning."

"You can't be serious," Naruto whined.

"I am. Now scoot. You have roughly… uh… 8 hours or so until the gathering starts. Plenty of time to get your workout done."

"Yea, a normal one." Sasuke pointed out. "But you just doubled it."

"I know, so you better get moving or you'll come right back after the gathering to finish." Ah… he loved being a teacher.

"I hate you." The blond was giving him his patented Death Glare of Doom and Despair.

"LEFT, LEFT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT!" The Kakashi clone form earlier jumped out of the tree's and ran toward the children. For good measure, it threw a kunai at them too.

"What the hell?!?!" Naruto dove to the side.

"Better get going," the real Kakashi said. "He has my full permission to do whatever it takes to get you to finish your workout on time."

The clone grinned evilly and started to advance.

The children gulped before taking off in the opposite direction as fast as their legs could carry them.

_Ahhh… It's good to be me. _Kakashi pulled out his treasured orange book and began to flip through the pages. _Oh Crap! I forgot to tell them about the meeting with the Hokage!_

He started after them, and then looked down at the book clutched in his hand.

"Ehhh…" He spoke aloud. "I'll tell them tomorrow."

Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves, headed back to the Lair to read. He was confident that his genin would make it to the Gathering that night. A Gathering he had no intention of attending.

**A/N: So... yea... that's it for now... Next chapter will be about the Rookie Nine getting back together and meeting team Gai... well not meeting... but you get the point....**

**Can anyone guess who this friend from Kumo is? I'll give ya a special mention!... or something like that...**

**Poll on profile about who Sakura is going to me paired w... check it out!**

**Be on the look out for a new story by me and Ferrous Corvus... It will be up as soon as he gets done writing his part.**

**Special thanks to:**

**My Beta- Tenraku-Ichi**

**My Best Friend- Ferrous Corvus who's name I will be able to spell one of these days with out looking it up...**

**Review!**

**Vote!**


	5. Shall we flip the coin of caring?

**A/N: Sorry it took so long... and that it's kinda short.**

**So.. wow ... apparently my question was a lot easier then I thought... here comes the list of people who got it right :** _Naruto007, RogueNya, barryc10, Stalker of Stories, Rethena Tydnalli, Trinity Fenton-Phantom, Trife, pharix, Special-Jonin23, Shinichi06_

**Im also thinking about bringing in the rest of the Kumo team... like Killer Bee and the rest of them... what do you think?**

"So, I'm working on a new song." Sasuke sped up his pace until he was running next to his otouto. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura doing the same so that the three of them could talk.

"When are you not?" Naruto welcomed the distraction from his aching legs and burning lungs. "What have you got so far?"

"Nothing whatsoever." He swerved to the side to avoid running headlong into the random carts that lined the street. "I just can't think of anything!"

"Oh, poor baby." Sakura was not in a good mood; therefore she could not be bothered with such trivial things as sympathy.

The boys chose to ignore her. "Theme?"

"Uh… I'm not really sure."

"Of course you're not." Sakura snapped. "Sorry guys," she sighed. "It's just running gives you a lot of time to think ya know?"

"Not always," Naruto muttered.

"True," She conceded the point. "Either you have too much time to think, or you push yourself so far that you have no time to think."

"I'm not sure that makes sense." Sasuke lead the way down a side street, his siblings falling in a line behind him.

"Say's the mute who's not a mute." Naruto raised his voice to be heard over the wind.

"Now that made no sense what so ever," Sakura would have laughed, but she was a little short of breath. "How many more laps do we have to run?"

"No idea, lost count of them about two hours ago." Naruto moved to the side to let her pass. "Can you believe that? We've been running for over two hours and we're just now starting to get tired."

"No, I don't believe it." Sasuke muttered. "You always did have a warped sense of time."

"What do you say we call it quits? The training ground is just ahead." Sakura pointed out. "If we missed any, we can always run them later."

The boys nodded in agreement and followed her over the small bridge that lead to their training ground. There, as always, waited the small pile of weights they were expected to use.

"So, what were you thinking about that made you so cranky, sis?" Naruto asked as he strapped on a weighted vest.

"Don't forget to make a Shadow clone to study your seals." Sakura reminded him as she strapped on even more weights to her legs. She and Sasuke didn't have enough chakra to make a Shadow Clone yet. Well… they did but it tired them out too much to even bother with it.

"Oh… right! But you didn't answer my question." The boy did as he was told, sending the clone to the pile of books under all the weight.

"You're not as good at dodging as you think," Sasuke agreed as he began to do the ridiculous stretches required of him.

"Hn." Sakura stopped over to a tree stump and began to do "Stairs." This involved her using both feet to jump onto the stump, then jumping back down. She had to maintain a steady pace for three minutes before she switched to using only one leg.

Naruto hoisted himself into a tree and began to do pull ups from one of its branches. The tricky part was that he was required to keep his legs horizontal to the ground at all times, or he would have to start over. It hurt like hell.

"Aw, come on." Sasuke was still doing the stupid stretches. "It can't be that bad, can it?"

"No," Sakura was already out of breath from jumping. "Just a little depressing."

……

"Well?" Sasuke asked, seeing as how Naruto was too busy muttering curses under his breath and Sakura wasn't answering.

"It's just… have you just ever looked at the things we know?" Sakura's eyes never left her task.

"Is that a trick question?"

"Funny. But seriously, do you realize all of the stuff we learned but were never taught?"

Naruto fell out of his tree with a loud crash. "Damnit!" He cursed the tree, the ground, the sky… anything that happened to be in his line of sight until he calmed down. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Sakura watched the blond pick himself up, and jump back into the tree while she pondered her answer. "Well… I just saw all these families when we were running. All the… all the parents showing their kids things. And I kept thinking to myself 'I had to learn that on my own' or 'no one ever showed me how to do that. Then it progressed to… just listing all the things… all these things that we know but no one ever bothered to teach us!" Try as she might, she couldn't stop the tears that sprang into her eyes.

The boys stopped what they were doing. It wasn't normal for Sakura to act like this. She was always the calm one… so what happened to shake her word so much?

It was then that Sasuke realized what day it was…. Four years. It had been four years to they day since Sakura's parents died. By the look on Naruto's face, it wasn't that hard to guess that he had reached the same conclusion.

"Ra-chan…" Only on desperate times did Sasuke resort to the childhood nickname. "Ra-chan… I'm so sorry. I didn't… I mean I totally…" He just gave up on speaking, all of them did.

For a while, they just sat there.

For a while, they just thought.

Sasuke could only think of how everything was different back then…. how different they used to be. How young and innocent they were.

He could still taste the blood on his lips from where Naruto had hit him…. Try as he might he could not forget the smell of burning flesh… or the heat of the fire.

He could picture himself walking through the debris, the ashes still smoldering. He could see the rooms like they use to be, he could see what they became.

Everything was grey and black. Everything was dull… except for one thing.

Sasuke had been standing where the dinning room use to be, trying not to cry. The table was alight with a half-dead flame.

Light from the fire had reflected off its surface, catching the boy's attention.

The Disk of Memories that Naruto had given Sakura for her birthday.

It had burned his hands as he pulled it free, but he didn't care. He was too numb to care.

As he had looked into the surface… it was like looking in a mirror.

Why he suddenly remembered it out of all the other things, he had no idea.

But that's how these things go isn't it?

"This is a mirror image of everything that I am not…. Always reflecting what I've learned but was not taught. If I could make thing different…. If I could press restart then I would…. I would hold back every breath that went too far." Sasuke said the word aloud, catching his siblings attention. "Hey… I think I just found my song." (1)

()()()()()()

Sasuke loved the rain. He loved the way that it could a soft lullaby tapping on the windows, then in the next instant, a gathering crescendo hammering down mercilessly. He loved the feel of standing in the midst of torrents of water and not losing yourself. Most of all, he loved the way that you could just… lose yourself in its rhythms.

He had finished his doubled workout about half an hour ago, as did his siblings. That left them with around 15 minutes to change and go to the Barbeque pit.

Sasuke was fairly certain that none of them would bother. He knew he wouldn't.

He looked over at Sakura, who was meditating on the little pond, and felt a slight twinge of grief. He just couldn't believe that he had forgotten, and Naruto too for that matter.

Speaking of Naruto, he had left as soon as training was done. It was a well known fact that Naruto had taken to running when he needed to think about something, calm himself down or just to pass the time. It was one of the quirks that they were all developing.

"Hey," a voice broke through his thoughts. "We better get going." It was Naruto, drenched to the bone and shivering, but there was a gleam starting to return to his cobalt eyes.

"What are you thinking?" Sakura had also caught onto the air their brother was emanating. He was planning something… something big.

"Well you know how Kashi is always going on about deception being a ninja's greatest weapon?" Naruto pushed his sopping bangs out of his eyes.

"Go on," Sasuke was curious, but weary.

"Well…. I got this plan you see," Naruto motioned to them to come closer.

"So are you going to tell us or keep us waiting all night?" Sasuke asked as they moved closer.

"Do you trust me?"

"No." The raven haired boy proclaimed exactly at the same time as his sister said, "With my life."

"Gee Sasuke, your vote of confidence is overwhelming." Naruto muttered. "So, you know how the only time anybody got to see the real us was the day that the teams were picked?"

"Yeah." Sakura nodded.

"Well, technically the teams were picked the night before," Sasuke amended. "But yes, I do know which incident you are referring to."

"Wait. Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" Sakura quirked an eyebrow at the small blond.

"Depends if you're thinking the thoughts that I'm thinking."

"I'm thinking that you're thinking thoughts that'll be a pain in my ass." Sakura muttered.

"You guys totally lost me." Sasuke jumped between the two.

"Keep up, will you?" Naruto did not like to be interrupted.

It took all of Sasuke's self control not to pummel him into the ground. Instead, he hissed through clenched teeth, "It's kinda hard to keep up when you have no idea what the hell just happened." His siblings gave him some really weird looks. "Never mind. Just get on with it."

()()()()

The rain was still coming down with a vengeance when Team Seven entered the barbeque pit where they were suppose to meet up with the rest of their class. So not only were they dripping wet, but they were covered with mud because none of them had bothered to change out of their practice cloths.

Sakura stopped at the door and surveyed her two brothers.

Naruto had long since figured out what kind of seals that Kakashi had used on those hideous training outfits. Not only that, but he had transferred them onto their bodies himself (with much blushing when it was Sakura's turn). Now they wore whatever they wanted and still carried the weights and resistance around with them 24/7.

They hadn't released the seals since they had gotten them, and the seals increased on their own, so they had no idea how strong they'd become.

As a special favor, Naruto had configured Sakura's seals so she didn't have to worry about the freakish muscle mass she was undoubtedly gaining. In sort, so would maintain all the strength but wouldn't have the muscles to prove it. Which was fine by her.

In fact, the seals worked so well that the blond was thinking of adding them to his own as he approached what he called 'the perfect physic.' Meaning that every one of his muscles was perfectly defined but none of them bulged out ridiculously, like those of a certain spandex beast he could name.

After he disclosed that information to his team, Sasuke had insisted on calling him names such as 'gay' and 'queer'…. And just about anything he could think of to make it plain that Naruto's sexuality was in question. What Sasuke didn't say, was that he was actually thinking about getting those seals too.

"Well, here goes nothing." Naruto lead the way into the restaurant.

He had kept the baggy black cargo pants and taken to going around barefoot. Chains, with storage seals carved into them, hung from his left front pocket, across his right leg, and into his back right pocket. This saved him from having to carry around the ninja pouches and kuni holsters that he considered to be a waste of space. Though he did have ten kunai hanging on a metal ring attached to his left thigh, just in case.

The blond also sported a dark, burnt-orange muscle shirt which was made darker by the rain and sweat. The metal plate of his headband was connected to the chains hovering over his right leg, instead of the traditional style of being on a piece of cloth. This left his hair to hang free around his eyes, falling over his ears and to the base of his neck.

Sasuke was dressed in a similar style, though he opted for a darker blue tank-top and actually wore sandals. His hair has pushed back from his face by his headband and he didn't have the random storage chains. There was a single figureless glove on his right hand, its partner being on Naruto's left hand.

This left Sakura, who was the last, to walk into the restaurant.

She too had kept the black cargo pants but she wore ANBU-issue shin guards on top of them and boots on her feet. Also, like her brothers, she wore a tank-top, this one in a dark green. Her hair had been cut to chin length on the first day of training and was now pulled back in a high pony-tail. She choose to place her headband on an only red ribbon Ino had given her a long time ago and used it to keep her bangs out of her eyes.

All three of them still wore the Wedlock collars Kashi had given them a while back. Though it was no longer activated, they thought it looked kinda cool. (2)

"All right boys," She spoke in a whisper so as to not attract any attention. "You know what to do."

"Right!" They both agreed in unison before taking off in a light jog across the restaurant.

"AIR!!!!" Naruto gasped out as soon as he saw Shikamaru sitting with Team Gai and the rest of the rookie's. He then promptly fell on the floor beside the table.

Sasuke was right behind him in collapsing against the wall and making a big show out of not being able to breathe right.

Sakura just walked to the end of the bench and collapsed into it.

"Are you guys alright?" Ino asked after a very awkward silence.

"Depends on your definition of 'all right.'" Sakura mumbled into the leather seat.

"How about 'not dead?'" Tenten had a smile in her voice. Well… she was used to Team Seven and their weirdness.

"If you're not dead, sound off." Sakura turned her face to the side so as to be heard.

A chorus of groans from her brothers was all she got in answer.

"What did he do to you?" Tenten asked.

"Doubled our workout because someone," At this she glared at the tuft of blond hair she could see, "Made Minion-sensei cry."

"Oiy!" Naruto struggled into a sitting position. "How was I supposed to know that Shadow Clones develop distinct personalities?"

"Yugito, Hanabi, meet team 7." Ino introduced. "They're about as weird as they come, I think."

Two heads popped up over the counter and Sakura sat up halfway to scrutinize the blond Kumo chunin. Yugito was, understandably, confused as hell about the three of them.

She was dressed in a black and purple shirt with black cargo capris similar to Team Seven's. The girl had abnormally long hair for a ninja, which she kept braided back tightly from her face. Besides that... she wore standard Kumo ninja gear. (3)

"Yo," Naruto said partially in greeting, mostly he just spoke to break the silence that had filled the shop.

"Eh." Sasuke spoke for the first time. "Who's the mini female Neji?" He craned his neck to get a better view of the girl who in fact, looked just like Neji.

"Not a clue." Naruto shrugged with ease before falling back onto the floor. "Do we care?"

Sasuke looked at Sakura, who pulled out a coin.

"Heads- we don't care, tails- we still don't care." She flipped the coin into the air. It sailed off of the table to land on Naruto's head.

"The hell!" The blond yelled jumping to his feet.

"WAIT!!! What did it land on?" Sasuke also jumped up, all pretense of exhaustion gone.

"Eh… tails I think."

"So we don't care?" Sakura asked, ignoring the outraged Hyuga.

"No… we _still _don't care." Sasuke corrected her.

"I fail to see the difference." The blond boy sniffed.

"That's because you fail at life." His brother pointed out.

"Ahhh… gotcha!"

"You're totally lost, aren't you?" Sakura asked him.

"Yea… pretty much!"

The entire table sweat dropped. Well… most of the table did. It was beneath Neji and Hanabi to do such trivial things. And don't even get me started on Hinata, who was currently dangerously close to a level 6 on 'Naruto-Mode,' meaning she could faint at any moment.

"Yosh! The spirit of youth burns brightly within you on this fine evening my team of eternal rivalry!" A boy in disturbingly tight green spandex and a horrible haircut with caterpillars growing on his eyes stood up and sent most of the drinks flying.

The rest of the table either swore at him or gave him the death glare.

"Yosh!" Naruto jumped to his defense. "That is not very youthful of you!"

'Oh no.' Thought Tenten as everyone around her cringed. 'He better not be doing what I think he's doing.'

"Naruto-kun! Have you decided to join the ways of the youthful?" Guess who…

"Huh? Sorry… did you say something?" Naruto took on a confused air. "I wasn't really paying attention you see."

Poor Lee face planted right into the bowl of rice.

"Cut it out Ruto." Sakura took pity on the spandex wearing boy. "And don't you dare!"

"Awww… you always spoil my fun." He muttered plopping into the bench next to Yugito, then proceeded to scoot as far away from the boy as possible.

"Does this place serve tomatoes?" Sasuke slid into the only open seat: in between Kiba and the mini-female Neji known as Hanabi.

"It's been a long time."

"What? Who just said that?" Naruto looked around for the voice he didn't recognize.

"I-I think it was Shino," Sakura whispered.

"What?!" Naruto yelled at the same time Sasuke said, "He can talk?"

"Says the mute… again." Naruto dodged the fork flung at his head. "Ha! You missed me, loser!"

"Who are you calling a loser!?" Sasuke growled.

"Yea! Don't say that about Sasuke-kun, you baka!" Ino thought she was leaping to her crush's defense.

The table fell quiet.

"Eh… Bro? Do you know her?" Naruto leaned around the blond girl sitting on his left to look at him.

"I don't think so…" Sasuke answered slowly. "Sakura?"

"I think her name is Emo… or something like that." Sakura said between mouthfuls of rice.

"WHAT!!!" The blond banshee started to shriek as the rest of the table began to snort with laughter.

"Kidding kidding… jeez… how could I forget your name I-o?"

"Nice one." Naruto offered her an air-high five, which she ignored.

"Ahh! There's that hip, cool attitude Team Seven has!" Lee had woken up and was pointing across the table at them again.

"What's he talking about?" Naruto asked in a not-so-hushed whisper.

"Not a clue." Sakura answered. "Shall we flip the coin of caring?"

This time the entire table erupted with laughter. Except for Hanabi… it was still beneath her to show such a worldly emotion such as joy.

()()()()()()

"So, I've got to ask." Yugito finally plucked up the courage halfway through dinner. "What's with the collars?"

"What? These?" Naruto gestured to the choker-like necklace he and his team mates now wore. "Wed-lock collars."

"It's our sensei's idea of a joke." Sakura supplied. "It's supposed to get betrothed couples to be able to tolerate each other and/or not attempt to run away. Kashi-sensei decided they'd be great for building team work, seeing as how you can't get more than ten feet away from the others without it dragging you all back together. Rather forcefully I might add."

"Yea… we found that one out the hard way." Sasuke agreed. "Not to mention he added a shocking feature to discipline us when we are arguing. Or… at least that's what it is suppose to be for. But our sensei is the most sadistic person around… so as you can imagine… it really doesn't work out that way."

"Then why do you wear them?" Shino was always one for sensible questions.

"Can't get rid of 'em. There's a special locking feature that we can't figure out." Naruto mumbled into his soup.

"Meaning you can't figure it out. Because I know squat about seals." Sakura dodged the fork that seemed to be flying between the three team mates. "Less the squat in fact… didly squat!"

"Is that even a word?" Yugito asked.

Naruto grinned at the girl beside him before turning to his sister."Yea, Ra-chan. You really need to work on this making-sense thing."

"Hypocrite!" Sasuke accused.

"What about a hippo?" Sakura teased.

Naruto just ran with the idea. "There's a Hippo? Where?"

Shikamaru was somewhat enjoying the eccentricity of Team Seven. They were random and unpredictable, but fun in a weird… random, and unpredictable-like way. He was fairly certain that the rest of the table was agreeing with him, if the smiles and the laughter was anything to judge by. But he couldn't shake the feeling that they were hiding something.

Oh well… food for thought. Right now he would enjoy Team Seven being the center of attention.

It wasn't everyday that you got a team this eccentric this young. Not only that… But their teamwork seemed to be perfect.

He wasn't stupid. He could seem the expert way that they caught the fork and sent it hurtling back or in another direction with the smallest movement of their figures. Even when they dodged, they exerted the smallest possible amount of energy.

It wasn't till later that night, long after everyone had parted ways, making promises to meet again soon, that he realized that it was a form of training for them. A way to perfect their throwing skills even though they were not on the training field.

Shikamaru could remember the game that they use to call 'pass the rock.' He could recall the odd pattern in which way they moved. This was something like that. There was a pattern to it, but he just couldn't figure it out. And that frustrated him to no end.

Midnight came and went while he pondered the way Team Seven acted. It wasn't until dawn hat he came to the conclusion that they had acted the way they had to disguise what they really were. And what they really were was good. Very, very good.

Even if it was only the basics that they were good at, they had moved so far ahead of him and their class mates that Shikamaru wasn't sure that they could catch up. They had gotten a head start, but that doesn't mean that he was going to let them leave him in the dust.

For once in his life, Shikamaru went to sleep with plans of getting up early to train.

It was time that he, and everybody else, started to take this ninja thing seriously.

**(1) - Bombers by Yellowcard**  
**(2) - EroSlackerMicha's idea... not mine**  
**(3) - think how she is the the manga**

**Special thanks to my tottaly awesome Beta: Tenraku-Ichi**

**I would say thanks to Ferrous... but he hasn't even reviewed lately so I'm not gonna...**

**so... should I bring Killer Bee's team in? Let me know!**

**Please Review!**

**Please Vote!**


	6. What do I smell like?

A/N: wow... sorry this took so long... serious writer's block issues. I'll get the next one out sooner.

WARNING: It's kinda jumpy and skips around a lot... the idea is that its the high lights of different days of their training.

_The stench of blood and burning flesh tickled his noise. The screams of the dying filled his ears and sent shivers down his spine. Carnal rage and a desire to destroy everything in sight coursed through his body. He was unstoppable._

_Ninjas blocked his path, trying to slow his decent upon their pitiful excuse for a home._

_Ha! _

_Stop him? _

_The thought was laughable._

_With one giant sweep of his paws, he sent the men flying off the various directions. What did he care where they landed? They were as good as dead anyway._

_The meat-sacks shouted to one another in that barbaric language of theirs. It was irking him._

_A swish of one of his many tails leveled giant rocks around their heads and shut them up for good._

_It was glorious! This power! This rage!_

_He lived to feel their flesh tearing apart!_

_Their screams of terror were music to his ears!_

_He would kill them all. All of them! Down to the very last child._

The feeling of falling awoke Naruto.

You know the feeling. When your heart jumps into your throat and your stomach seems to drop, like you when you think there is one more step then there really is.

Those few moments in which time stretches on for an eternity, before you survival reflex kicks in and you begin to thrash around in vain hopes of stopping yourself. Then you wake up gasping for air to find that you just fell off your bed.

The only difference is Naruto was sleeping in a hammock, not a bed.

So you can imagine the fall to be a little greater and the tangle of blankets and limbs afterward to be a little more… tangled.

Lying on the floor, Naruto desperately tried to slow his heart rate. All the while fighting the metallic taste that was building up in the back of his throat, the one that meant he was going to puke.

He could still smell the stench of the battle field in his dream. It was making him sick.

Now that meant he had two options: 1) attempt to make it to the bathroom. 2) puke here and have to explain it to his family later.

One did not need a coin of caring to figure this one out.

Naruto fought his way out of the mess of blankets and sheets and to the bathroom down the hall. Once there, the boy proceeded to empty his stomach into the toilet bowl.

When he was done, the boy staggered to his feet and to the sink.

The cold water felt nice when he finally managed to get the water turned on and stick his head under the flow. Not only did it cool him off, but it chased the remnants of his dream away.

"Stupid fox," He muttered to himself.

Wasn't it enough that the villagers hated him because of it? Did the fox really have to ruin his night as well by making him relive its vile memories?

Sick of where that line of thought would inevitably lead him, he made his way back to his room. Almost forgetting to turn the water off, I might add.

3:50.

The glowing red light of his digital alarm clock could be seen from across the room.

Dang. Too early to get up. And totally pointless to go back to sleep.

With a groan, the boy made his way to the giant library that took up half of his house. Might as well use this time to come up with a new seal or two.

()()()()

At the training field:

"You are a medic nin, are you not?" Gai was, for once, serious, scaring the three genin.

"Sakura is training to be a medic nin, if that's what you mean." Naruto answered, biting back a yawn.

"I see. Naruto, I hear you know the shadow clone." Gai turned his caterpillar-topped eyes to the small blond. "Here are some books on taijutsu. There are four complete styles and nine or ten books on basics of other styles. I want you to make a clone for each book and have them memorized by the next time we meet"

"What does that have to do with my taijutsu style?" Naruto accepted the books from his new sensei.

"Kakashi-kun tells me that you are prone to making things up on the fly. I fear that giving you a set style will greatly limit your potential. So, for now, you are going to learn bits and pieces of multiple styles I think will be an asset to you. Later, we will combine them to make something totally new." The spandex-wearing man explained.

"Can I look up stuff on my own? Like… find and learn other styles on my own?"

"As long as you inform me about them, then I don't see why it's a problem." Gai shrugged. "Yosh! Now off you go!"

"Great, now he has even more of a reason to be anti-social." Sakura muttered to her remaining brother.

"Sasuke, what style of kenjutsu are you learning?" The man asked. (2)

"He doesn't know," Sakura answered for her brother as he shifted nervously. "He just started learning about weapons yesterday."

"Right then. Where is Kakashi-kun so that I might ask him?" Gai hadn't yet figured out that Sasuke wasn't going to talk to him and kept pressing the boy for answers.

"Kashi-sensei isn't teaching Sasuke kenjutsu, his name is something like Hayate Gekkō." The pink-haired genin answered again.

"Another specialist sensei?" Gai looked confused. "It is rare for a team to have two senseis, but I've never heard of a team having three."

"We're supposed to meet with two more before the week is out." The pinkett looked at her raven-haired companion who just shrugged. How was he supposed to know?

"Odd…" The eccentric jounin mused. "Do you think you could learn the style without a weapon? Mix that with some of the basics from your family style and the academy. I'll be over to help you as soon as I get Sakura started."

Sasuke shrugged and went to do as he was told. Or at least _try_ to do as he was told. Frankly… he had no idea what he was told to begin with.

"Yosh! So you're a medic nin-in-training. Medic nin normally have one of two styles, the first is to use a style that doesn't involve their hands very much and the second is to use the chakra scalpel combined with the style they already know. But then again, you have people like Lady Tsunade who fight like a front line combat specialist. This is because she was already adept at her family style before she started to train as a medic." Sakura didn't want to know how he knew that, so she just went with it. "But seeing as you don't already have a family style to learn from and you've mastered the academy style from what I heard. We are going to make something new."

Wasn't that the point of this to begin with?

"I think we will call it….. Tei!"

"Air? Don't I get a say it what I want to name my style?" Sakura asked a little peeved.

"NO!" His answer made the young girl jump a little. "Thanks to Kakashi-kun, you have the strength and stamina needed for what I have in mind. All that's left is to focus on your balance."

"My balance is fine!"

"I'm sure it is," The spandex clad man soothed her. "But there is always room for improvement. And your balance needs to be the very best."

The man then lead her through a series of exercises she was to do twice a day to improve her balance. These ranged from ridiculously simple things like standing on one leg for a set amount of time to the seemingly-easy-but-more-then-a-little-deceiving Leg hover. Not to mention the sheer amount of lopsided/unstable things she had to walk over.

Also, for some unknown reason, she had to be able to perform a handstand, cartwheels, back-walk and a number of other flexible-like gymnastic stunts. (3)

Oh boy… this was going to take a while.

With Sasuke:

Sasuke currently had no idea what he was supposed to be learning. His skills are as follows: basic grasp of his family's taijutsu style, mastery of Academy style. Neither was exactly something to brag about.

So when a freak wearing spandex shows up proclaiming that he was going to help them create their own taijutsu styles because he lost 'a most unyouthful bet' to their lazy-ass sensei, the boy sure as hell wasn't expecting _this. _And by _this_ he meant running through a single kata…. For over three hours.

The idea was to redirect a head-on punch, to either his stomach or his head, and pivot around the person's back to kick them in the knee. This action sent a person tumbling forward by his own body mass and was to be followed with an elbow jab to the temple.

He couldn't say that the action in itself was hard. But the timing bit was a whole different matter.

Sasuke gowned his teeth together as he squared off with his brother again.

"Alright you two, try it again." Gai called over from where he was helping their sister with some balance issues.

A grunt was Sasuke's only warning before Naruto launched himself across the scant three feet that separated them. His body was angled slightly, right arm leading the way. (4)

()()()()

The next day:

"Everyone has a different chakra signature. It's unique, just like they are." Hana Inuzuka addressed the battered genin sitting before her. "Some of the higher ranking ninja are so aware of the chakra signatures around them that they can tell when something is out of place. My clan takes this one step farther. We can _smell _the chakra of those around us." (5)

"Cool! What do I smell like?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"That is for your team mates to decide." Hanna grinned.

The small blond cocked his head to the side. "Huh?"

"One of you is going to flare your chakra and keep it flared as long as you can," She explained. "The other two are going to add their own chakra to their noses until they can smell the chakra being flared. This will also help with chakra control and endurance."

"Chakra endurance?" Sakura repeated. "There is such a thing as Chakra endurance?"

"Not a clue." Was the airy reply. "In theory it should take about-"

"Wait! What do you mean 'in theory'?" The pink haired girl asked after a signal from her older brother, who was still playing the mute.

"Kakashi is right. You guys do have a thing for interrupting people."

"You're not answering the question." Naruto pointed out.

"And ganging up on people. At least your team work is good." Hanna mused. "I said in theory because it's a theory."

"Meaning you have no idea if this if going to work or not." Sasuke muttered to Sakura.

"What was that? I saw your lips moving but I couldn't make out what you were saying. It makes me think you were talking about me. You weren't talking about me, were you?" The Inuzuka laughed aloud when the genin started to squirm. "Alright, blondie, you can go first. Flare your chakra a little bit. Not that much! Yea… right about there. And you two start adding chakra to your noses until you can smell his aura."

"Be careful Sasuke," Sakura whispered. "Don't add too much or you'll burn the inside of your nostrils."

"Then how am I supposed to gather enough?" He hissed back.

"If you have to use some as a barrier against the rest of it." She muttered back.

Sasuke looked at her incredulously. "Right….Because I have awesome control like that."

15 minutes and half of their chakra supply later, the siblings were starting to smell smoke coming off of their younger brother. The only thing that stopped them from opening their eyes to see if he really was on fire was the fact that the smoke had a strange spicy tint to it, like when pine needles start to burn.

"Do you smell it?" Hana asked.

"Yea, it smells a little like smoke." Sakura stopped the flow of chakra to her nose. "But mostly of a pine forest" She watched as Sasuke nudged Naruto to get him to stop.

"Very good Sakura, how about you go next?" A chorus of groans was the chuunin's response.

They then spent the rest of the day, and their supply of chakra, fingering out what each other smelled like.

Sasuke's scent was sharp, minty if you will, and very faint. Sakura, on the other hand, was best described by Naruto.

"It smells like the meadow. You know, the one by the river? Only a little different, like it just rained or something."

"Not bad you guys. What we are going to do is try to lessen the amount of chakra needed to smell each other. Yea, I know it sound weird. But don't worry about other people right now. Our focus is getting you guys to know each other inside out and upside down while blind folded. Once 'm through with you, you won't even be able to hide from each other if you were dead. Now… go away!" Their teacher dismissed them.

"Why does no one I know make any sense?" Sasuke whined as they dragged themselves back to their home.

"It's all part of the pact we made to drive you insane." His blond otouto answered wisely.

"Speaking of insane," The last member of the group muttered. "We get to meet Anko tomorrow."

"You just had to do that, didn't you?" Sasuke muttered.

"Yes, I did. Insanity plan, remember?"

()()()()()()()()()

The next day:

"Hide me!" Sakura burst into the Yamanka Flower Shop and dove behind the counter, her two teammates following close on her heals.

Ino looked down at the group huddled by her feet. "Uhhh?"

"Hide now, questions later," the pink haired girl panted.

Naruto moved forward to peak around the edge of the counter. "I think we lost her. Man, that woman is insane." He relaxed back against the counter.

"And crazy as hell to boot." Sasuke muttered from his position by the wall. (1)

"You totally just repeated what otouto said." His sister leaned back against the counter, trying to steady her breathing.

"I did not! It's called reiterating!" Sasuke said affronted at the same time Naruto hissed, "Don't call me that! I'm not little!"

"Yea, yea. Sure, sure. Whatever you say." Sakura answered them. "Less talking, more hiding."

"Do I even want to know?" A very failure voice sounded from the other side of the counter.

The three genin-on-the-run popped their heads over the counter to see who was talking to them, namely Yugito Nii.

"Hey! Look Sasuke! It's your girlfriend!" Naruto smirked.

The Uchiha's face went scarlet has he slowly lowered his head, disappearing behind the counter.

"w-What did you call me?!?!" The chunin stammered.

"Uh… Pretty?" Naruto gulped as Yugito advanced. "How about my sunshine? No?... I… I'm uh… gonna leave now." He disappeared behind the counter with Sasuke.

"Hello mini-female Neji and friends whom I do not know." Sakura said in monotone.

"I have a name you know!" The unnamed mini-female Neji spat.

"Yes, yes. Good to know, mini-female Neji. I'm Sakura Haruno by the way." She introduced herself to the three teenagers standing in the back ground. "And the tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb behind me are my brothers. The one whose face recently represented a tomato is Sasuke Uchiha. The blond who dug himself into a pit of no return is Naruto Uzumaki."

"I'm Karui," The dark skinned female said. And these are my team mates. Samui," The other female waved. "And Omoi." The dark skinned male struck a pose.

"Cool! Now if you guys see a crazy lady with purple hair come by, pretend that we aren't here." Sakura immediately disappeared behind the counter.

"Um hello? Why are you hiding in my shop?" Ino asked. "And on that matter, you guys have a lot of explaining to do! First you're friends, then your mortal enemies, now your friends again? Then you disappear for months on end and no one's seen or heard from any of you. AND THEN you come to the gathering acting like totally different people only to vanish AGAIN! Now you just randomly appear in my shop and ask me to hide you?"

"Ino," Sakura soothed. "You know I love you in a totally innocent and non-lesbian kind of way, but please act like we're not here!" (6)

"Why should I?" Ino snapped.

"Because our lives are hanging in the balance here! And I can't speak for tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb, but I'm really not in the mood to die!" Sakura spat back in her face.

The shop froze for a second.

"Who wants to kill you?" One of the Kumo ninja's asked.

"Our sensei," Naruto crawled over Sakura's lap to poke his head out from behind Ino's legs. "Still no sign of her."

"Good. Now, get off me!" Sakura pushed him back into his corner.

"Let me get this straight," One of the Kumo nins said again. "Your _teacher_ is trying to kill you?"

"Hold on! I thought your teacher was that freak with the mask? Kaskse… or something like that." Ino asked.

"You guys fail at pretending we're not here. You know that?" Naruto muttered. "And it's Kakashi. But no, he's not the one trying to kill us."

"Did someone call? It wouldn't happen to be my three renegade students would it?"

"That's not…" Naruto whispered, looking at Sasuke.

"It couldn't be." Sakura had frozen, all the color fading from her face.

"What's the matter? You didn't sense me coming? I know I taught you better than that. After all, as a ninja, you must have…"

It was then that they heard the two words that struck more fear into the hearts of team 7 then the sight of Gai and Lee's Genjutsu of Youth. Two words that meant their lives would never be the same again.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!!" Kashi-sensei's fist sailed through the counter top, barely missing his students as they scattered.

"My table!" Ino shrieking was drowned out as team Seven went into action. (7)

"Scatter!" Sakura hollered, diving out of the way.

"Let's get out of here!" Sasuke made a beeline for the door, only to be stopped by the person standing right outside.

"Going somewhere?" her voice was silky smooth and held the promise of much pain to come.

Sasuke backed into the room slowly, his new sensei advancing on him. Behind him, he could hear Sakura and Naruto fighting off Kakashi. He was on his own.

"It's not nice to run away like that." The woman in front of him purred. "I thought we were having fun." She held two kunai in each hand, the weapons glittering in the light.

At the last second, before the weapons were launched at him, he kawarimi'd with the nearest thing he could find and made his escape.

Sadly, the thing he kawarmied with was his younger brother. Oh well, survival of the fittest. He loved his brother, he would die for his brother. But face Anko for his brother? No way in hell.

Kakashi looked around as the dust settled around him. He could make out the shapes of the four Kumo nin plus the Hyuga girl cowering on the floor, the blond Yamanka girl was screeching at him… but where was his team? Ah! There was Anko with Naruto, but where were the other two?

"Quickly, to the back door. Yes, to the back door." Sakura chanted to herself as she made her way through the back of the shop. "Back door. Must go… quickly… to the back door." Not caring that she was leaving her little brother to suffer a horrible fate. (8)

"Where are they?" Anko asked.

"Where are who?"

"Don't play games with me runt!" She spat. "Now… Tell me where they are!"

"Never!" Naruto swore.

"Let me handle this Anko," Kakashi picked his way through the wreckage that once was Yamanka's flower Shop. "Naruto tell me where they are."

"If I did tell psycho chick over here, what makes you think that I would tell you?" His obstinate genin shot back.

"Because," Kashi reached for something in his weapons pouch. "I have this!" He pulled it out with a flourish.

"A hair brush?" Naruto questioned. "What are you gonna do? Spank me?"

"Shoot!" He flung the brush over his shoulder, hitting the still squawking blond banshee in the head. "I meant this!" He pulled out a leather-bound note book.

"You wouldn't!" Naruto gasped.

"March 23," Kashi read, opening to a particularly juicy passage. "Today we got stuck going to a gathering."

"Noo!!" Naruto lunged at the book, only to be stopped by Anko… again.

"It was alright I guess," Kashi continued. " There was this girl-"

"Wait! Stop! I'll tell you!" Naruto pleaded. "Do…Do you know the muffin man?" He asked after taking a deep breath.

"The muffin man?" His teacher crouched down on his level. "The one who lives on Dreary Lane?"

"The muffin man? What the hell does that have to do with-"

"Shhh!!!!" Kakashi interrupted Anko. "Tell me about the muffin man, Naruto."

"She… well… she's married to the muffin man." The boy mumbled. (9)

"Married? To the Muffin man? Right!" Kakashi stood up. "To Baker's Street!"

"Wait! What do we do with the kid?" Anko asked.

"Oh I have an idea." Kakashi made a cross shape with his hands.

A puff of smoke, and the jounin were gone, leaving behind one very terrified boy and a evil Minion shadow clone.

On the opposite side of town:

Sasuke slipped into a dark ally.

"I.. I think I'm safe." He whispered, backing farther into his new hiding space.

"Hey, Ke?" Sakura's head popped out of the trash can.

"Iiiiieeeee!!!!" Sasuke launched himself across the ally. "Don't Do that!!! Stop laughing!"

"S-sorry! You… you should have seen your face!" His sister gasped between bouts of laughter. "What's the password?"

"Password?"

"Yes, you know, a word you use to get past something? Password."

"Oh!" Sasuke said. "That password."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What's the password?"

"Oh! Gotcha! Password." Sasuke answered.

"Yes, password! Now what is it?"

"Password!"

"That's what I'm asking!" Sakura spat.

"No! That password is password!"

"Ohh! Right! You know, we really need a new password." Sakura climbed out of the trash can she was hiding in. "Where is Ruto?"

"Don't know. Don't care. Any room in there for me?" He pointed to the trash can she had just climbed out of.

"Hell no! Find your own trash can to hide in!"

"Fine… be that way!" Sasuke made the crossed shaped seal with his hands and a clone proofed into existence. "You! Henge into a trash can!"

Sakura sweat dropped. "That's not what I meant."

"Oh children!" a voice echoed up the ally. "Where are you? Come out, come out and play!"

"Oh no." Sasuke whispered.

"How did she find us?" Sakura backed up the other end of the ally.

"No! Kashi-sensei will be that way!" Sasuke grabbed her arm. "Through here!" He led her into the back door off the ally and out of sight.

"Kashi-kun!" Anko whinnied when she met him in the middle. "I thought you said that they would be here!"

"Oh, they're here. Close… very very close."

"So does that mean what I think it means?" Anko started to jump up and down, her er…. breasts… wiggling in the process. "My eyes are up here Kashi."

The silver haired jounin stuttered as he broke free of the trance he was in. "Errr… right… The game's Afoot!"

A/N:

(1) If this sounds like something from "It's for a good cause I swear" It's not my fault… lol… I didn't mean 2 if it does.

(2) I didn't write about the whole Hayate Gekkō training cuz its not that interesting yet… maybe next time.

(3) Her style is going to be based off of Maki's style in Air Master

(4) Style im making up… if you have any suggestions let me know… same goes for Naruto's style

(5) I'd love it if some of ya'll came up with different scents for different people

(6) Line I got from Bones

(7) Ino is screeching the whole time…. Just didn't feel like writing it

(8) It's a Gollum thing

(9) Yes, its shreck… yes, I know

Special Thanks

My Beta- Tenraku-Ichi

My Best Friend- Ferrous Corvus whom I am writing my new story with. Check it out!!! And he gave me some ideas for the whole scent thing on this chapter.

_**Mada Mada Dane: **_Not good enough. This phrase applies to Naruto and his team mates, Hikaru and Rei, all of whom are believed to be too handicapped to become ninja. They're not so sure about that, and will go to any lengths to prove it to the village and themselves. AU

**And bug Ferrous... he's writing the next chapter**


	7. What about breakfast?

**A/N: Eh... my bad. I'll try to get the next one out sooner but im not making any promises.... I do have exams comming up.**

**Discalimer.... Seriously? NOT MINE!**

Don't you hate it when the sun comes up and happens to shine right in your eyes? And why does it always seem to happen right after a long night when all you want to do is sleep?

When you finally manage to find the strength to turn over, the sun inevitably hits something shiny on the other side of your bed and reflects back at your face again. Some of us manage to drag ourselves out of our nice warm covers long enough to close the curtain, others, like myself, pull the covers over our head and try to drift back off.

And then… the birds start to sing. And it's not even the cool song birds. It just has to be the ones with the most annoying call.

Am I right in guessing that this is when most of us look at the clock, trying to decide is its worth getting up yet?

Yeah, this is the state that we find Naruto in. Squinting at the clock, muttering to himself about annoying birds and narrators that just won't get on with the story.

Where he got that last bit from, I will never know.

"Five-thirty? Stupid birds…. It's Saturday." He pulled the covers over his head and tried to go back to sleep. It took all of 30 seconds to realize what he just said. "SATURDAY!" He leapt from his bed and ran around his room, looking for anything dark.

This was not good. Saturday is when he and his teammates trained with Anko-sensei. And Anko's training was… unique to say the least.

They had from sunrise to sunset to stay hidden from her. If she found them, they had to escape. And if one of them was caught, the other two would have to rescue him/her within an hour or he/she would be pronounced 'dead'.

The only rule was not to leave the village, and if all of them were captured and pronounced 'dead' they earned a one way ticket to the forest of death…. For a week… alone.

Thankfully, it had only happened twice, but Naruto was in no mood for it to happen again.

"I'm late, I'm late!" Naruto chanted as he skipped the bottom three stairs and ran into the kitchen.

"Hey, Ruto!" Kakashi greeted as the boy speed past him, grabbing the toast from Kakashi's hand.

"No time to say hello. Goodbye. I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!" Naruto dashed around the corner, ignoring his brother and sister who sat at the island. (1)

"How long do you think it will be before he realizes?" Sakura took a sip of coffee.

Sasuke smirked. "About 5 seconds."

Sure enough, a resounding THHHWWAK! And an ear splitting SQEEAAKEE! Filled the house.

"Alright," Naruto unstuck himself from the window and stumbled back into the kitchen. "Who closed my I'm-late-and-don't-have-time-to-use-the-door-like-a-normal-person window?"

"You should really shorted the name of that thing." Sasuke said. "It takes more time to say it then to escape through it."

"Yea," the lone girl in the house mused. "Something simple. Like 'Escape Window.'"

Naruto thought about it for a few seconds before deciding against it. "Na… It doesn't convey my feelings of desperation enough. Now… who closed my I'm-late-and-don't-have-time-to-use-the-door-like-a-normal-person-because-my-life-is-at-stake-and-I-really-don't-want-to-die window?"

"I said make it shorter!" Sasuke wailed. "Not longer!"

"Sorry 'bout that." Kashi said. "It was a bit chilly last night. And I figured since you didn't have to be anywhere until well after the crack of dawn that it would be ok."

"What do you mean we don't have to be anywhere?" Naruto waved his arms around like a mad man. "It's Saturday!"

"Yea we know." Sakura took another sip of coffee. "Your breakfast is in the oven."

Naruto stared at her like she had three heads. "Say it with me. S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y."

"We all know what day of the week it is, Sherlock." Sasuke tried to snatch the last piece of bacon off of Sakura's plate. "Now are you going to eat your breakfast or can I?"

"Have you lost your mind! How can you think of eating at a time like this?" The blond started waving his arms again.

"Flap all you want otouto, but I assure you that you can't fly."

"That's not funny Sakura!"

"Hey, I'm just giving you the facts," She shrugged. "If you don't believe me, then by all means, keep flapping."

"Idiot, what day is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Saturday."

"Yea, I'm pretty sure we've established that by now, smart one."

"Sakura, there's no need to be mean." Kakashi chided.

"It's five thirty in the morning!"

"Focus you three!" Sasuke said. "Ruto, what is the date?"

"May 23rd…. oh" Naruto said sheepishly. "The chunin exams are today, aren't they?

"Ya think?"

"Sakura." Kashi warned again. "I don't care how early it is, be nice to your brother."

"Sorry otouto." Sakura sighed.

"Apology excepted." The blond grinned. "Though if I may point out-"

"No, you may not." Sasuke got up from the table and stretched.

"Is everybody packed?" Kakashi started gathering the plates and walking to the sink.

"Packed?"

"Oh no… not again!" Sakura began to bang her head on the table.

"Careful sis," Sasuke warned. "You don't have that many brain cells to spare."

"Go get packed, Naruto," Their guardian called from the kitchen. "We leave in an hour!"

"Wait! Why are we leaving? Where are we going? And what about breakfast?" Naruto wailed.

"In this order," Sakura started up the stairs. "1) You will find out when we get there. 2) You will find out when we get there. And 3) You can grab something on the way out."

"Gee…. That was informative," Her little brother mumbled.

"Just pack enough for a week"

()()()()

"Ok, now can you tell me what's going on?" Naruto and his siblings stood outside the gates of the Forest of Death.

"I'm not allowed to say anything," Kakashi explained. "All I'm allowed to do is drop you off here and point you in the right direction."

"And which direction would that be?" Sakura adjusted the pack on her back.

Kakashi smirked. "That way." He pointed to his right. "You'll find everything you need to know. But before you go… I have some advice for you."

"Should we be afraid?" Naruto grinned.

"No!" his teacher protested. "This is serious!"

"You serious?" The eldest boy muttered. "You've got to be kidding."

Sakura smiled too. "I think it's sweet."

The three males groaned.

"Just get on with it, Sensei…"

"It was something that I was taught in the academy," He began. "A poem of sorts. The secret of true strength."

That got their attention.

"If qualities of haven are what you desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If earthly qualities you lack, train your body, prepare to attack. When heaven and earth are opened together, the perilous path will become righteous forever." (2)

"Heaven means your mind, doesn't it?" Sakura asked after a few seconds of silence.

"And if heaven means mind," Naruto concluded. "Then earth is body."

"So…" Sasuke hesitated. "If your weakness if intelligence… or wisdom… then you've got to study and work as hard as you can to cover that weakness. And if your physical strength is your weakness… than you've got to train your body above all else. Only when you are strong in both mind and body will you truly be strong."

"but… what about the Nidaime's Law?" Sakura whispered. "A ninja's true strength can only be achieved when they are pushed beyond their limit." (3)

"And what about what the Sandaime's Law?" Naruto interrupted. "Strength comes from the desire to protect." (4)

"That was the Shodai's poem, wasn't it?" The raven haired boy asked.

"So… in that case" Sakura started.

"That mind refers to the Sandaime's Law and body is the Nidaime's." Ruto finished. "Heaven and earth… The strongest and the smartest… then the Shodai… the dreamer."

His sister narrowed her eyes. "How do you know that?"

"Because, he was the one who build Konoha in the first place." He answered matter of factly. "He was the first to combine heaven and earth; and he made something greater."

"So which one is true?" Sasuke looked at his sensei.

"That is for you to decide. See you guys at the end of the week!" Kashi vanished in a swirl of leaves.

"Okay… helpful much?" Naruto muttered, walking in the direction Kashi pointed in.

"I really wish he would teach us that," Sasuke mused, setting off after Naruto.

The trio walked side by side around the forest in comfortable silence. That in itself was not unusual, it was the fact that Naruto wasn't reading and, for all appearances, was seriously thinking about something.

"Okay," Sakura finally stopped in her tracks. "Otouto, you're scaring me."

"Hm?" Naruto looked back at her.

"She's right bro," Sasuke put a hand on the smaller boys shoulder. "What's got you so freaked out?"

"I'm not freaked out!" The blond protested. "I'm just thinking!"

Sasuke snorted. "About what Kashi said?"

Naruto looked off in the distance for some time, his eyes narrowed. It was impossible to determine if he was just thinking in general or trying to doge the question. Either way, Sasuke and Sakura knew not to push him for answers.

"No… I'm not even going to think about that. It'll make sense sooner or later."

"Probably later," Sakura smiled.

"Let's keep walking." The blond boy sighed. "I have a feeling that we're needed somewhere." He set off again without looking back.

Sakura and Sasuke shared a look that mirrored their own worry before following.

After anther semi-uncomfortable silence, Naruto unsealed a book from the chains he wore about his waist.

Sasuke groaned. "I should have known."

"Shh!" His sister reprimanded.

"It says 'The chunin exam is held between allied nations to raise the ability level of our ninja.'" Naruto read. "'It is a representation of the battles once held between allies; a place where a young ninja can carry the pride of his village on his back and fight against other ninja for his very life.'" (5)

"Sounds intense," Sasuke mused. "Wonder why Kashi-sensei didn't enter us? If the other genin are anything like Team 8 and 10 then we could have swept the floor with them."

Sakura frowned, "He has a reason, whatever it is. Don't think about it too hard, your just wasting your time."

"I know. But… I just have to wonder if he's.."

"Trying to hold us back?" Sakura supplied. She watched as her brothers fell into their Standard Formation out of habit- Naruto out in front with Sasuke flanking his right, leaving his left to Sakura. She lengthened her stride until she fell in line and continued, "The exam isn't just about strength. A chunin is a leader. They are responsible for the lives of others in their unit. And the higher up we go, the more likely we'll be split up."

The let the implications of her words hang in the air for a while.

"The nations strength is the villages strength, the villages strength is the ninja's strength." Naruto whispered. "And our ninja's strength is the strength of our village. And the strength of our Village is the strength of the nation." He spoke louder. "As ninja, it is our job to protect." (6)

"You're such an idealist." Sasuke sneered. "Ninja are thieves and murders."

"Yeah," Sakura didn't like this line of thought, but once the subject was broached, there is no turning back. "But every time we steal, be it secrets from other nations, techniques or power, we do it in the name of the Hokage. And every time we take a life, we do it for our village. Everything we do, no matter how wicked it is to the eyes of the world, we do it to protect our own."

"Does the end justify the means?" Sasuke challenged.

"If it saves a life that would have been lost otherwise, then yes." Naruto was used to the different points of view. No one had exactly the same perspective; the trick was to just get over it. "Wanna bet that's where we're headed?" He pointed to a tent constructed up ahead.

"Did it occur to you guys," Sakura started.

"That it would be faster if we went the other way?" Sasuke grinned. "Typical Kakashi."

()()()()()

"Are you team seven?" a harassed looking chunin standing beside the tent asked.

"Yea, that's us." Sakura spoke for her brothers.

"I'm s'pose to give ya this," he handed her a missions scroll and then turned on his heel, disappearing inside the tent.

"Nice guy that one," Naruto muttered. "What does it say?"

"Not a clue."

"What?" Sasuke asked. "Did you suddenly forget how to read?"

"No… seriously!" Sakura showed him the scroll. "Ruto! You need to take a look at this."

"Oh come on guys!" the blond walked over. "How bad could it be?"

The three of them bent over what they thought was a mission scroll. In actuality,… well… I'm not sure what it is. Symbols and lines criss-cross and swirl around each other in an articulate pattern.

"It's a seal!" Naruto exclaimed.

"You sure?" His brother asked. "I've never seen a seal this complicated before."

"It is!" The youngest insisted. "Look here," He pointed to a section of the scroll. "This is chakra flow," He traced the pattern to the center of the page. "And this bit looks kinda like a directional seal."

"What do you mean it 'kinda looks like a directional seal'?" Sakura hissed in annoyance. "Either it is or its not!"

"Well you know what they say," Sasuke scratched his head in a very Naruto-like manner. "If it looks like a duke, walks like a duck... Its probably a ninja trying to kill you." (7)

Sakura stared at him like he had three heads. "Right... I'm going to pretend that never happened. Now... Either it's a directional seal or it's not!"

Naruto shook his head. "No… not really. Seals are real tricky. Depending on how you draw it, one this could mean a thousand things and a thousand things could mean one."

"You've lost me."

"Well… it's like this" Naruto bent down and picked up a stick. "Most seals start out like this," he drew a spiral in the dirt. It's your basic other dimension."

"Basic?" Sasuke snorted.

""Ok… so it's another dimension." Naruto conceded. "Or it will be. But right now its just a swirl in the dirt. The next thing is to add chakra parts." He sketched out the kanji to chakra. "Then tell them what I want them to do." He used the stick to draw a swirling line, connecting the points of the Kanji and the kanji to each other. "Now, this means I want that chakra to do something… like use someone else's chakra to get the work done."

"That looks like this!" Sakura pointed to the scroll.

"Yea, except that's about a thousand times more complicated." Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"Again.. no not really." The blond looked at the scroll again. "It just has a lot of components. And… now that I think about it… It looks like a summoning seal. But I've only ever read about them…."

"Summoning? You mean like Kashi's wolf pack?" the raven mused.

"Yea… but it's this thing here that's throwing me off." Ruto traced the outer edge with a finger.

"Best guess." His sister ordered. "We're out of time here."

"Reverse summoning?"

Sasuke looked at the only one in their group who could understand this foreign language. "You don't sound too sure bro."

"Hey! She told me to guess!" He protested. "And if I had to guess I'd say that its meant to summon us somewhere!"

"So that means whoever is behind this mission is on the other side," Sakura concluded.

"Or it's a trap."

"Ke!" Sakura used his childhood nickname. "Must you be so pessimistic?"

"Yes." He deadpanned.

"Hold on you two!" Naruto interrupted. "You sound like your actually going to go through with this!"

His siblings stared blankly back at him.

"Well... I'd say its about a 50 50 chance... don't you Sakura?" Sasuke looked at her.

"Something like that... yes."

"Then the 50-50-90 rule comes into play. As long as we remember that we'll be fine."

"50-50-90 rule?" Sakura asked. "Do I even want to know?"

"If we have a 50-50 chance of success, 90 percent of the time, it will blow up!." Sasuke said matter of factly. (8)

"You've got to be kidding!" Naruto wailed. "A thousand things could go wrong! And I don't even know if it is a Reverse Summoning!"

Sasuke smirked. "Hence the 50-50-90 rule."

"So you're ok with a plan that has a 90% chance of blowing up in our faces?" the blond shook his head.

"Better then my original plan," his brother confided. "It had 100% chance of blowing up."

"That's because you wanted to use explosives!" Naruto started flapping again.

Sakura shrugged. "Well... I'm not sure about the 50-50-90 rule... but there's one way to find out."

"We're doomed." Naruto whispered. "Alright you two, put your hands in those circles."

"Those are circles?" Sakura asked. "A three year old could draw a better circle!"

"Just do it!"

"Geez... no need to be so touchy." Sakura and Sasuke did as they were told.

"On the count of three, pump your chakra into the seal." Naruto also put his hand in a circle. "One, Two-"

"If I die," Sasuke said in all seriousness. "I blame you."

"Three!"

Team 7 disappeared in a flash of white light.

()()()()

Inside the tent:

"Hey Hikaru?" A chunin asked his friend.

"Hm?"

"Weren't you s'pose to tell those kids that the summoning scroll would land 'em in the Forest of Death?"

"Oh Crap…."

The chunin in the tent roared with laughter.

"Oh well," one of them said. "They'll figure it out sooner or later."

**(1) Alice in Wonderland... got to love that rabit.**

**(2)... yes I know its the poem the 3rd says in the chunin exam... I just twisted it to my will**

**(3) part of the third's speech before the 3rd task**

**(4) something out of my head**

**(5) 3rd's speech**

**(6) 3rd'd speech yet again bent to my will**

**(7) from Pridefall's 150 Things Konoha Shinobi Are Not Allowed To Do**

**(8) also from Pridefall's 150 Things Konoha Shinobi Are Not Allowed To Do**

**A/N: Yes... I know its short, the next one will be longer I swear**

**Yes... I know its kinda a filler... but I had to get from point A to point B**

**Yes... I know its not as funny as some of the last ones.**

**Specail thanks:**

**Tenraku-Ichi**

**Ferrous Corvus**

**Review and Vote please!**


	8. Growling is Sexy

**New and slightly - improved spacing for ... someone ... anyway:**

**AN: Yes, Yes, I know ... it's been forever and a day. I'll save the big authors note for at the bottom**

**Warnings: Not Beta-ed ... I wanted to get this out ASAP as soon as my muse came back.**

* * *

Anko looked over the hall with hollowed eyes.

Her minions had done an excellent job in their role as enemy nin in her exam - some might say too good of a job. Only four teams remained: two from Konoha and one each from Suna an Kumo. But there were still too many to continue straight to the third round; there'd have to be an elimination.

This is where she would let Hayate take over.

"Shut up gakis!" Her voice echoed across the tower room, bringing silence in its wake. "I see that a few of you have managed to make it past my minions. Even more of you completely ignored my warning at the beginning and went off and died on us." She scowled at the redhead from Suna, knowing he was the cause of many unnecessary deaths. "If you are good enough to have made it this far, I suppose I can let you pass. Hayate!" Anko turned and called for the perpetually sick joinin. "It's your turn to play baby sitter. I've got to see a pervert about a pedophile." And with that she was gone, leaving many blinking and considerably concerned shinobi in her wake.

Kakashi had taken to pacing the hallways. He'd begin in the intensive care ward and then wander toward operating rooms 3 and 5. Each time he passed the doors that blocked him from his genin - his children - he'd glower at the door, hoping to prove some theorems on spontaneous combustion. Every time he failed to do so, his visage would darken and he'd whip around to march off to the next room.

It had been _hours _since Team Seven had appeared, clinging to each other in attempts to remain upright and dragging behind them what appeared to be a dead body. Naruto was the worst off - blood trailing from his feet and hands, staining his hair auburn and running across his face. The other two were barely alive; barely breathing; barely moving. Yet somehow they had managed to drag themselves into tower at the center of the Forest of Death. They'd even managed to bring the skin of a certain pedophile snake for show-and-tell.

His team and the lengths they would go for each other had never ceased to amaze Kakashi. But it wasn't until now that he was able to fully grasp and appreciate the bond between the sudo siblings. He prayed to God, Kami and any other deity he could think of that he'd never have to come to such a revelation again.

Konoha was secretly in pandemonium. Somehow, the most infamous traitor in their history had infiltrated the exams. He would have gotten away with it too, were it not for the stupidly heroic actions of young Team Seven. Well, he still got away with it - but not without gaining an appreciation for the pinkettes mean left hook and several other injuries ranging in severity and creativity.

The Third Hokage was officially too old for this. He clenched his empty pipe between his teeth, watching his ANBU scramble about. Three bodies had turned up in the Memorial Cemetery - the genin from Grass. There were still more scattered throughout the Forbidden Forest - children who had gotten caught in the crosshairs of the wild, desperate fight that had just taken place.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kakashi storm by like a thundercloud, sending the medics scattering. He couldn't blame the boy. If he wasn't the Hokage he'd have done the same. As it was, he was needed to stay in one spot so that all reports could reach him as quickly as possible.  
Suddenly, the hospitals alarms were blaring.

With speeds that only fellow shinobi stood a chance of following, the elderly Hokage took off toward the source of the noise. He'd half been expecting his wayward student or trouble from another village. What he saw, however, made him freeze mid motion. Behind him he could hear squeals and heavy footsteps as his subordinates came to a comic halt, doing everything in their power not to hit their leader.

All humor of the situation was drained by the sight of Naruto, fighting his way out of the ICU. The bandages that covered his torso were slowly turning scarlet. His legs were shaking so hard that it was a miracle he was standing at all.

"Aniki," The blonde murmured, trying to push past the myriad of nurses. "Onii-chan." He collapsed mid step.

Before anyone could think to move the blonde container was in the arms of his silver haired guardian.

"I've got you Naruto," Kakashi murmured. Carefully, and very gently, he picked the genin up bridal style.

All the while the blonde was asking insistently about his team; the medics were insisting that he get back in bed; and the shinobi wanted to know what had happened.

_Flash-back no jutsu_

Team Seven stood in front of Anko, their clothes thoroughly shredded and covered in cobwebs and gore. A strange, liquid sand clung to their lower legs - impeding their movements. Over all, they were a mess and severely unhappy with their sensei.

Naruto summed it up in the shortest and clearest way. "I dislike you."

Anko's response - throwing back her head and cackling delightedly - was expected. What wasn't expected were the three sealing scrolls she tossed to the siblings.

The dark haired Uchiha, already sufficiently paranoid from his short time spent in the Forest of Death, saw the slight movement of her hand. Panic and instinct set in and he ran toward his sister. "Get Down!" Sasuke screamed as he tackled the pinkette. Not a few moments later, the clatter of scrolls echoed across the hall as they struck the paved floor.

"What the hell was that!" Naruto began to scream as soon as it became apparent that the things Anko had thrown were in fact scrolls and not the sharp knives they were use to. "You'll take a hit for Sakura, but not for me? Thanks bro, I can just feel the love."

"Love is subjective," the Uchiha heir pushed himself up. "Besides, the fuzz ball would give you the secret to time travel before he let himself die." He turned to give his sister a hand up, but she was already standing and grumbling about how he should lay off the tomatoes. (1)

"I dislike you." Naruto informed both of his siblings

Throwing up his hands in frustration, his brother exclaimed, "Its standard procedure! Protect the medic so she can heal your sorry ass." He glared pointedly.

"Whoa!" Both boys flinched at the tone in their sister's voice. "Are you implying that I need to be protected?" KI began to leak throughout the room, causing Anko to cackle again.  
Naruto began to stutter and would have inevitable dug them into a deeper hole when Sasuke intervened. "There is no good way to answer that."

His answer just caused the killing intent to spike. Kami knows what would have happened if Anko had not intervened. She pointed out the state of their current clothing and then demanded that they change into the clothes sealed away within the scrolls.

Sasuke frowned at the folded clothes laid out before him. He knew the uniform well. It was something that they had seen Kakashi dressed in many times before he disappeared on long term missions.

A pair of black shinobi sandals and matching pants. There was also a skin-tight black mesh shirt worn under a fitted sleeveless turtleneck. Fingerless gloves rested atop a pile of dull bandages and next to them was the standard - issue ANBU armor. But it was the porcelain mask that held his attention - painted such a deep shade of black that it could be qualified as blue and in the unique likeness of a raven's head.

Sakura, it seemed, was the last of her team to assemble in the tower room Anko had specified. She noticed immediately that her youngest brother was in a foul mood - as he was unnaturally quiet. Actually, neither of her brothers seemed to be acting normal; but, seeing as Sasuke was, by nature, a brooder, she decided that her sisterly attention would be best spent on the blonde.

Walking up to him, she gently nudged him in the side. "So why exactly are you imitating Sasuke?"

Said boy scowled deeply as Naruto blinked at her. "What do you mean?"

"You're moping."

The blonde container bristled slightly. "I am not!"

"Liar!" Both of his siblings shot back.

Sakura shook her head and continued, "Cut the act outoto. We've been stuck with you for too long. You can't hide from us."

It took a long time for Naruto to reply. When he did, his voice was soft and the tone carefully measured. "I don't understand why Kakashi-sensei wouldn't sign us up for the exams."

His statement took his teammates and adoptive siblings by surprise. They had long since known that they were part of a guinea pig program designed to feed off of their strange allegiance to one another. All three of them had discussed it at great length - including some of the sacrifices it entailed.

"I'm not sure I get where you're coming from." Sakura said slowly. "He's given us his reasons on multiple occasions."

Shaking his head, Naruto stated clearly, "I _know_ why he did it, but I just don't _understand_."

"It's the price we pay for the Hokage granting us so many different senseis." The lone Uchiha's voice filtered across the room.

All further talk was discouraged by the arrival of Anko. "All right gaki's, I'm low on time so listen closely." She began, sitting down and carefully rolling up a banner proclaiming her name and awesomeness. "As you know, I was chosen as the examiner for the second phase of the Chunin Exams. And, as you also know, you are not permitted to compete in these exams."

"Thank you for reminding us," Naruto mumbled bitterly. "Exactly what we needed." He unsealed a well worn book on fuuinjutsu and flipped it open, completely intent on ignoring the rest of the non-informing information. He didn't know if it was the exams, the Arctic Fox mask hanging from his belt or their ill hidden watchers, but something was really pissing him off.

For a moment, nobody said anything. But then Ano spoke up, "What's with broody jr?" Her only answer was a shrug and a shake of Sasuke's head. "Right, well anyway we're moving on. Since all the other rookie teams have been signed up for this years exam," she pointedly ignored the growl emitted from the whiskered blonde. "The Hokage and his … advisors … have decided that it is time to test Team Seven as well - given the special resources you have received."

Her sudden seriousness unnerved the teens more than they would have liked. Silence once again stretched across the room for a long period of time as each personally digested the information. They knew that their sensei was watching them closely, the only hint that their 'test' had already begun.

Naruto raised his book higher, covering his face as he once again reclined against the rail. _So that explains our watchers_, he thought to himself. _Bloody brilliant._

Sasuke uncrossed his arms and made sure that his hands were carefully tucked away into his pockets. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught his brother tapping his fingers against the worn, leather bound novel. He was almost entirely positive he had seen Naruto with that book before - something that was an extremely rare occurrence.

Sakura caught the movement of both of the boys and instantly knew something was up. Information was being passed along, but she couldn't quite catch it. When Naruto's eyes met hers over the book he was pretending to read, she knew that whatever it was required the technique they had the most practice in. Bright blue eyes returned to the page in front of their nose and she took this as her sign to begin.

"Wait!" Her voice cracked through the room as she held up her hand in an imitation of her academy days. "Let me get this straight. This is a test?"

Anko, catching what her student's signal and guessing what they were up to, smirked. "Right o!" She sang as, in her head, she gave the finger to the Ne guards she sensed placed around the room. The Old War Hawk would have to do better than this if he wanted to know the full range of Team Seven's power and Saritobi's plans for them.

While her inner voice was being snide, the girl in front of her had continued on in an almost defining frequency. "But we're not even in the chunin exams," Sakura pointed/whine out. "How can we participate if we're not in them?"

"I'm confused!" Naruto yelled from his corner, lowering his book again. "What does our test have to do with the Chunin exams?"

"If you put that book down for five minutes and pay attention," his brother scoffed, "You would have inferred the answer by now.

"But I think I've almost got it!" The Kyuubi's container also raised the pitch of his voice.

"Naruto, you've been reading that book since we got out of the prison… er… I mean academy." Sakura winced at the slip up, throwing a look at their sensei before continuing. "It's the longest I've ever seen you read one book."

"I've read others!" The blond protested. "I just keep re-reading this one…"

Sasuke grabbed the book, ignoring the protest of the owner, and put it in his weapons pouch. "You'll get it back after the test."

"Wait!" Naruto panicked. "What test? There is a test? I thought she was just joking around!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "This is exactly why you were dead last. Would it kill you to pay attention?"

"Cool it boys," Anko ordered over the blonde's answer of "Yes, yes it will," and told them that: "the test is simple… I want you to make the chunin examines fail."

(insert cricket noise)

This time Naruto was the one to raise his hand, although he did so slowly, almost hesitantly. "You want to run that by me again?"

"No."

Sakura shook her head to clear it and tried to catch up with the thread of the conversation. "Excuse me?" She asked, not really wanting the answer but the time to decode her brother's statements. Sometimes she really hated how creative her otouto could get.

"He asked if I wanted to run it by him again," Anko shrugged. "And I don't want to." It appeared that Naruto had caught on to their silent watchers. The question was if his team also got the message.

Team Seven shared a look.

Yes, she decided. They understood. Now, where they prepared?

"Oookay…" Sasuke tried after another moment's hesitation. "Would you explain it to us?"

The purple haired kunoichi pouted. "Aww… do I have to?"

"That would be nice…" The Uchiha muttered, wanting to know exactly what they were up against. He made a mental note to change the team's code talk to something less headache inducing.

Thankfully, their sensei caught the message. No, they were not prepared. They required more information if they wanted to stand a chance of keeping their cover. "Fine… but keep up cause I'm not going back over it." Anko walked to the railing, looking out over the ridiculously large forest. "I have this bet going with the other examiners – that I can eliminate more teams/people then both of them combined."

"So where do we fit into this?" Naruto asked warily, wondering if it was too late to request early retirement. The Ne operatives scattered about the room were making his life more difficult than it needed to be. Silently, he sent up a prayer that his siblings had gotten his message, otherwise this was going to be troublesome.

"You, my dear ones," tall three genin flinched at the term, "Are going to help me." Anko turned around and offered them her savage grin.

Five, Sakura decided. There were five people watching them. If she had to guess, two for each of her brothers and one for herself. "Why did I have a feeling you would say that?" She let her annoyance slip into her tone and promised herself to lose the idiot as soon as she got the change … then maybe she'd kill him for good measure.

"Isn't that… oh.. I don't know.. Cheating?" Naruto ducked as his sensei sent a kuni flying at his head. "Is it sad that I saw that coming?" His shit-eating grin was back - the only sign that he knew/guessed and approved of his sister's plan.

"No, that was good reflexes." Sasuke clarified. "What's sad is that you knew it was going to happen but kept talking anyway."

"Boys!" Sakura stopped her otouto from killing Sasuke. "Focus! Now… once again… Our mission-"

"Test." Anko interrupted, mentally applauding her pupils. She'd never praise them out loud of course, but they were pretty damn good - at least teamwork wise.

"Fine! Our test is to eliminate as many possible genin-attempting-to-become-chunin as possible." She summed up.

Their sensei nodded. "Sounds about right."

"You just said possible twice." Naruto snickered like a small child…. Apparently it was funny.

"Are you on crack?" Anko challenged, her wicked grin returning.

The siblings each had mirroring looks of confusion.

"Do I want to know…?" Sasuke ventured.

After a minute of contemplation his sensei answered him. "Just… if anyone offer you anything called crack, don't take it. It's bad."

"I will take that as a 'no Sasuke you really don't want to know what crack is' then."

Having finally grown frustrated at the overly-complicated means of communication Sakura growled out, "Stay on target!"

"Did you just growl?" Naruto blinked and then started snickering again.

An Uchiha I'm-so-much-better-than-you-because-I-have-a-hot-sexy-smirk-and-you-don't smirk curled at the corners of Sasuke's lips. "I think she did."

"Stay on target!" Their sister protested again.

Naruto shook his head in amazement. "Seriously… Who growls?"

"The Inuzuka." Was the matter of Fact answer from the final teammate.

"Actually… growling is pretty sexy." Anko started to explain a little about the birds and the bees.

"STAY ON TARGET!" Sakura used the Ōkina Atama no jutsu (Big Head Jutsu).

"Alright already!" Naruto rubbed his ear, trying to regain his hearing. "No need to shout."

Sasuke nodded sagely. "Seriously sis, stress is a killer these days."

With a feral roar, Sakura charged her brothers, intent on beating them into a pulp and forcibly changing their means of communication.

Two black eyes, a split lip and a broken nose later- Anko decided to intervene. "As much as I would like to watch pinky over here beat the snot out of you two," She pointedly glared at the injured brothers. "But you're about to bring the building down on us. And this is the target for my exam… well… in a sense. But then again… it would mean that they all could fail." She looked thoughtful. "But on the other hand… they could make me think up another test."

Sasuke sighed, ignoring her rambling and pressed a more important issue. "Any restrictions?"

"Um…" The crazy woman tapped her chin. "No killing. Oh! And you will each operate individually!"

"Awww man! But why?" The only blonde present sulked.

"Because I said so." His sense dead panned. "Now, we will divide the forest into three sections. Should any of you cross the border into your teammates section you will fail. And failure means being Team Guy's punching bag for the next month."

"So, not an option then." The boys nodded at their sisters statement. "But how do we make them fail?"

"By collecting these," the snake witch held up two scrolls, one with the kanji for heaven and the other for hell. "Participants will enter the forest with one and must retrieve the other from a different team. Once they have both scrolls, they have to make it to the tower. All of this must occur within five days."

"Wouldn't it just be easier to head straight to the tower and set up traps?" Sasuke asked. "With that kind of time limit, you can't really afford to be wandering around this place."

"The animals are hard enough to get around," Sakura agreed, her mind whirling with ideas. "But with that many teams gunning for you as well? It's suicide not to just make a beeline for this place."

The elder kunoichi held up a hand, to stall further conversation. "Okay kiddies, let's not discuss how you three would do it. Your job is to stop them remember?" Anko shook her head. "You cannot kill them, you cannot maim them… not anything permanent anyway. Each of you will be restricted to your own section and you can only operate between sunrise and sunset. Got it?" All three of them nodded. "Good, now get some rest. The exam starts in four hours."

"What!?"

"And you couldn't have mentioned that earlier?" Sasuke challenged.

She snorted. "When? Between you falling out of the sky and getting eaten by a giant spider? Or maybe when you were sinking in the chakra-sand." Mentally she added all the time spent creating and deciphering their strange signals. Maybe raising a team together was really the way to go after all. Honestly, Anko was a well trained jounin who had been working with these kids for months and she had only barely gotten that they were passing along information at all.

"Chakra-sand?" Sakura asked. "Don't you mean quick-sand?"

"Na… that's not dangerous enough." Team seven exchanged disbelieving looks. "So we added some seals so that it sucks in your chakra. Now stop interrupting me!"

The siblings cowered under her sharp gaze.

"The exam starts in four hours, and I expect you to be wreaking havoc from the time the gates open until the exam ends. But not after nightfall… remember your restrictions!" And with that, Anko sushined away.

Once again silence reigned over the room. Two of them waiting for the third to give them the exact locations of their watchers. Their signal to move came from Sakura raising a light grey mask in the form of a jungle cat to cover her face.  
Within the twinkling of an eye, Team Seven was gone as the shadow clones who had switched places with them during their impromptu sparring match dispelled themselves. Behind them lay the petrified bodies of their would-be pursuers - trapped forever in one of Naruto's deadly fuuinjutsu creations.

_Flashback no jutsu Kai!_

The Third Hokage frowned as he was more or less being forcibly removed from Naruto's hospital room. Behind him, nurses were scurrying around, making sure to put the blonde in a heavily sedated state. If Sarutobi wanted to hear the rest of the deeply disturbing tale, he'd have to wait until the Kyuubi's chakra broke down the medicine in the boys system and he once more regained consciousness.

In the meantime all he could do was make sure the other members of Team Seven were kept in a comatose state due to the severity of their injuries. He also had plans to send Team Ten, who had not made it through the second round, on a B ranked retrieval mission.

It was time for his wayward students to come home. And, with one of them lurking about the village and the other due to arrive within the month, only Tsunade needed to be forcibly brought.

He had a feeling that her skills would be invaluable in the near future. Besides, Team Seven's fate depended on her swift and immediate return.  
He'd give her no alternative.

* * *

**Alright, time for the giant author's note.**

**1) slightly related to _team tensai _by wingwyrm, if you haven't read it you should do so.**

**A) Yes, I know it's short considering how long I've been gone.**

**B) No, I will not make you wait that long again. I'm hoping to have the next one up around christmas ... feel free to spam me to get me going on that**

**C) Yes, it's not beta'ed, I know. I'm planning on rewriting the entire story anyway ... but that will take forever so I'll keep posting chapters to continue the story as I go along.**

**D) ... did I have a D? I can't remember**

**E) If I've quoted something I forgot to cite let me know and I'll correct it as quick as I can**

**AND FINALY: Keep an eye out for my new story**, Guardian Dragon. **I hope to have a few chapters of that up by New Years ... considering we survive the end of the world that is. It'll be another Team Seven centric fic ... not as out right humorous though. It begins with an OC of mine and she is intertwined throughout the story, but the main focus will be on Team Seven. Here's the main idea:**

_Sarutobi couldn't stand by and watch a child be abused for something he had no control over. __Yamato wasn't the only survivor of Orochimaru's experiments and _Itachi refused to leave his brother in the hands of the village that ordered the murder of his family. Enter Ryuk, other wise known as Kida Senju, The Leaf's Cold Fire. What would happen to Team Seven if two of the members were raised by this newcomer? How will this effect Sakura and Kakashi as well? Team Seven centric. Kakashi/OC

_Review Please!_


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